Love Wheel
by holmesfreak1412
Summary: Hyuuga Hinata definitely can use a break. Now a stable career woman at twenty-four, Hinata purchases herself a new luxurious apartment in an uptown high-rise, in hopes of having a new phase of life. Unbeknownst to her however, someone is watching her. He watches her unpack. He watches her make the bed. He has eyes everywhere. Uchiha Sasuke owns the building. Now, he owns her. [SxH]
1. Attraction: Hooked

Title: Love Wheel

Author: holmesfreak1412

Fandom: Naruto-Alternative Universe

Pairing: Uchiha Sasuke & Hyuuga Hinata

Rating: M for sexual and violent themes

Language: English

Genre: Romance, Drama

Summary: Hyuuga Hinata definitely can use a break. Now a stable career woman at twenty-four, Hinata purchases herself a new luxurious apartment in an uptown high-rise, hoping to have a new phase of life. Unbeknownst to her however, someone is watching her. He watches her unpack. He watches her make the bed. He has eyes everywhere. Uchiha Sasuke owns the building. Now, he owns her.

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Naruto Franchise

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Love Wheel

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_Phase One_

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_Attraction_

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_.(1) __An instant attraction to romantic interest, usually occurring within the first few minutes of meeting._

_(2) Becoming "hooked on the look" of another, focusing on the person's physical characteristics while ignoring personality differences._

_-Confusing Love with Obsession, John D. Moore (2006)_

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01

Today is a good day.

He has eyes everywhere so he knows better than most that today is in all likelihood better than most Monday mornings. Even with the scorching summer that rose up into the heavens to engorge them into a sweltering heat. Even with the tiles for the third floor hallways still undelivered and horribly delayed. And even with Akamaru from Inuzuka Kiba's unit 18A breaking the hidden cameras from the bedroom for the third time since their tenancy. It is a good day, Sasuke knows. He is sure of it.

From Monitor three, he listens to Yamanaka Inoichi's pathetic attempt on engaging his consulting psychiatric patient into sex. The couch creaks loudly, the springs protesting to the excessive weight but the perverted shrink is yet to get lucky from the hot brunette with the bipolar disorder. Monitor seven showcases a forbidden love on the other hand—Shikaku and Ino meeting at the laundry room and fucksfucksfucks until it's all already excruciatingly boring. Yoshino looks for her husband. Asuma and Kurenai argues about the boy's school somewhere in the background—Monitor Ten? Sasuke couldn't care less. Tenten proceeds on cutting herself again in a hot tub but that happens everyday. It'd be out of the norm if she dies from the superficial scratches she actually manages to acquire in the end. In the masters, Temari was getting it off with one of their vibrators again when Shikamaru unceremoniously barges in, willing to do something about his girlfriend's libido for once. Overall, it's a good day.

And it gets even better…

He watches Juugo usher a beautiful woman up the lift, presumably inquiring to look at the vacant unit 13B, repainted the week before and advertised in all publications just the other day. The orange-haired man does what customer protocol tells him to—awarding the prospective buyer as much as a welcoming aura as possible. It appears to ease the woman as well, as she freely smiles back. Sasuke stares at Monitor Six, finding it hard to stray his attention away from the shuffling female beside his real estate agent. The doors close. Thirteen Up flashes in the digital signboard. Sasuke whirls around for the elevator camera—Monitor seventeen—whilst increasing the volume of his well-hidden recording devices, fixation still undeterred. He wonders why.

And then he gazes at her longer. He realizes with a violent start, his heart on his throat.

Uchiha Mikoto.

The woman is the exact living, breathing, walking facsimile of his late mother. Same dark hair, graceful gait, bosomy, petite figure, calm and collected but genial features… though with contrasting white eyes that speaks only of genetic uniqueness…

Sasuke watches them take the smooth vertical ride upwards towards the thirteenth floor, taking note of every notable feature that set the woman in the screen somewhat a more interesting spectacle than Temari doing all the work in their sex. Live porn forgotten, he starts to appreciate the sight. The newcomer is beautifully built, petite but well-toned underneath that flattering medium-dark suit. Her eyes are the most fascinating he has ever seen. Too pale for any impressionistic aesthetics but the pretty crinkle of her eyelids gives it a more ephemeral look. At first glance, she looks nothing short of a teenager in industrial cosplay but look past the puerility generated by her youthful appearance are obvious signs of maturity and intelligence. Sasuke hears this through her well-phrased and perfectly reasonable questions she poses Juugo.

Insurance?

Safety in case of accidents?

Advance payments?

Bank account?

She throws a glance towards the camera and for a moment, a frown—distrustful, he identifies quickly- crosses her face before reverting back to the pleasant countenance. Even the assertive way she perused the blinking lights of his eyes screams of his mother's disapproving frown she dons when he does something against her favor as a child. There's definitely a resemblance. Not very strong but he could feel it's there. He could SEE it's there. He has eyes everywhere.

He clenches and unclenches his fists. He is sweating.

Juugo leads her smoothly towards the offered unit. Sasuke quickly puts the coverage of 13B's bedroom and sitting room in the Masters—side by side, watching her as she glides towards the foyer in awe of what she sees. This is one of the moments he thanks the world for giving him a gifted interior designer for a brother. You can impress whoever you want to without doing anything flashy. She looks good from behind. And her voice too… "What a glorious view!" she marvels, melodic and throaty when she ran around to take a look at the picturesque matchbox traffic of the Hokage Avenue down below. She has her face pressed against the glass, viewing it like a goofy child. From behind her, his agent Juugo nods fervently in amusement, the normally stoic man probably sensing a generous amount of commission from this one.

Sasuke manipulates some controls on the console in order to zoom in her fingers. No ring. A good sign. Though she could still be unavailable for all he knows, that's but an immaterial concern. He is going to have her in his building no matter what, assuming of course that she actually wants to be part of it. He crosses his fingers.

From the window, she turns, looks around and smiles. Coming closer from his vantage point, she looks right at him—with a face that looks so much like his mother's—and knocks him breathless.

Scratch that, today is a great day.

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Hinata stares curiously at the light fixture fixed on the ceiling, noting to herself that she has never seen anything like it before. And Hyuuga Optics from whence she originates from is already foremost experts in anything that can be measured with a candela. Glass Art-Deco disk with a crimson chrome center that if looked upon closely, is dotted with three tomoes. Light bulbs that aren't even visible from where she stands and yet proves to be functional when the agent obligingly turns it on for her inspection. She drifts her focus at the red center. If she doesn't know any better, she might swear it's an eye. A really, really weird eye. "What a lovely light.." she gushes appraisingly, pointedly asking the man about it without being too blunt. Subtlety is her specialty and it's admittedly a really mysteriously, lovely light.

The man nods. Sagely. "Isn't it?" he remarks. Juugo-san is a jovial enough man with orange hair and orange eyes but the color still reminds her of someone best not remembered. So she's still wary. And the towering size doesn't help at all, giving you the ominous feeling that you are making the wrong choice of following him in a place where no one will likely see you… "It's the trademark of the Hidden Sound Homes. You won't see it anywhere else."

"I thought your symbol is a yin-yang symbol?" She prompts, confused. Father always says they are Copycats, not considering at all that the Yin Yang symbol are already used before the first white-eyed person is even born. "Or is it the quarter note?" The Sound name should make sense if so.

He shakes his massive head in answer. "It's called the Sharingan." He explains. "It's for marketing purposes. The bosses didn't spare any expense in making a name for themselves, you see. It's best to be remembered after all. It's gorgeous, don't you think?"

"It is." She agrees, walking around the exquisite suite to take a more inquisitive impression at the unit. So far, she hasn't been discouraged.

To say, Hinata is impressed is but a grave understatement. The rent is high but it's pretty manageable, especially for someone like her who is a favorite in her publishing company. No bragging. But the condo-apartment itself is a gem. It would be a pity if she let a golden opportunity like this pass without being thoroughly considered. It's about a time she have a change of air in any case. The building's distance to her workplace is pretty convenient too. And let's not forget the bliss of living in comfort for the rest of her career life.

But does she really want to leave behind her sanctuary of her old apartment in Hagoromo street and go through all the hassle of moving? Not having any way to answer that question on the spot, she trots towards the foyer, taking every detail in. Well-ventilated. Very agreeable color scheme. White and black, very much like her own clan's symbol. Great linoleum-tiled floor. Elegant but nothing unnecessarily showy. Hinata nods to herself approvingly. If indeed the rest of the suite is up to par with she has seen so far, then she must be incredibly lucky to open this morning's paper and see this in the Classifieds.

She goes over the bathroom. Black glass wall interior, a spacious tub that can fit two people at the very least, a partitioned shower stall. She can already see herself soaking here for a nice, relaxing bath after a long day. Or if she comes to have yet another writer's block again. Another Sharingan light anchored in the ceiling but significantly smaller than that in the living room.

That's to say nothing of the masters bedroom itself. Trademark light again—check. Accordion-shaped cabinets. Nice space for a desktop computer. Great window view as well, with the faces of the first two Hokages very much visible in Konoha's less civilization-remote Mount Rushmore. She envisions where her Queen-sized bed should be placed. She imagines waking up to this every morning, with the sun on her face and the lulls of city traffic singing in the air. She wonders what life would be once she regards this place as a safe heaven where she can be alone with her thoughts and no one can judge her for it. Hinata realizes that she doesn't really mind living in here for the rest of her twenties at all.

Alone. In solitude.

Hinata sighs miserably, wishing that she still has… Oh no, no, no don't even think about it.

She then turns towards Juugo, giving the hulking man an appreciative grin. "This is the first apartment I have looked into."

The man smiles back nicely. Gentle giant hm? Hinata muses. "You're lucky then…" he says, head tilted so as to give the impression of pride with the surrounding that his hand encompasses. "This apartment is definitely like nothing you see every day Hyuuga-san."

Indeed, she concludes, as they walk back towards the foyer. Juugo opens some more closets. Hinata looks around. This luxury of this unit is nowhere like the place in Hagoromo street she comes home to everyday. This place doesn't have two years of family abandonment and six years of Naruto…

Naruto…

Hinata sighs, shoulders sagging. She really needs a damn break.

"I'm taking it." She announces happily.

Juugo smiles again. Hinata winces slightly. She always has people smiling at her but they don't mean well most of the time. And then she reminds herself: of course. Juugo is another of those salesmen after all. Smiles as artificial as the ink they give you to sign the contracts with. "If we just go to my office…" he tells her, offering his large hand. Hinata doesn't accept, trying to cover the paranoia of his polite intentions with her usual seventh-grade blush. Juugo lets it go without any awkwardness. He shrugs. "We can get this in the works already."

Before they are set to leave, Hinata takes one last look back at the Sharingan Light (as she nicknamed it) and still couldn't shake the feeling… that it looks like an eye… watching her… watching her…

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Three days later, the call comes.

Sasuke is more than antsy when he answers it. He glances at the caller ID. "Everything going well?" he asks Kabuto, the corporate manager whilst turning off the sounds of all his monitors. "… how's business?"

His assistant and spokesperson is as cynical as ever. "Been better…" he replies with a grumble, not making a secret in each huff in disdain that they are supposed to hate each other. He never liked Kabuto but between being stuck doing all those paperwork and just ordering some guy that's albeit a nutcase around, there's always the better alternative. "I'm getting off tolerably well at least. How about you Sasuke-kun?"

Why does he have to sound so much like a school girl in a drama club? "Fine." He snorts, impatient. "The statement is on the way now, I presume? How about the tiles for the third floor? Have they been delivered already?"

"Uh-huh. And what's more? I managed to get a tardiness discount. Talked to Suigetsu about the pool renovations. Reprimanded Karin over the unnecessary flirting Shikamaru didn't appreciate. I also have Orochimaru-sama…"

Sasuke can do little but wait at the only information he is ever interested at hearing. He zones out

"… And Juugo says we have an applicant for 13B…"

Sasuke leans closer, if possible to his seat.

"Hyuuga Hinata. Twenty-four. Divorced. She's currently a children's book author in the Sannin Publishing. Quite a bestseller too as I heard that she is set to be paid for the movie adaptation sometime this year. No criminal records. Juugo says she's a very pretty woman. Stable income. Already sent six month deposit. No pets."

"Hyuuga Hinata…" he tastes the name on his lips, licking it and liking its flavor. The sun. It suits her. Amaterasu-no-Mikoto. "Any relation to the Hyuuga Optics?"

"Apparently she used to be their heiress until she was denounced for marrying a man that was not in their favor…" Hn. So if he had met her sooner, that would have saved her infinitely more trouble… and birthright. She's divorced? Well, at least that confirms it. She's single. Kabuto resumes. "But I believe after her success as a literature icon, the family is very willing to take her in again."

Sasuke writes the name down, ignoring the last part. He underlines it multiple times. "She sounds… ideal. Tell every one to make sure to take extra good care of her. Make sure she's comfortable. The works."

"Okay." Kabuto doesn't perk up at his boss' sudden thoughtfulness. "Anyway, Sasuke-"

Sasuke promptly hangs up, knowing full well he doesn't have anything else important to say. Kabuto always saves the best for last. The Uchiha leans back to his chair, taking a deep, exultant breath.

Hyuuga Hinata.

He directs his attention towards the live feed of 13B, his hands on the console. Inactivity gives the suite an eerie quality, like shadows moving menacingly at each corner. Ready to pounce on your unawares. Ready to kill. Depressing. He just can't wait to have someone moving there already. He just can't wait to have her.

Meanwhile, the Sharingan light blinks.

(TBC)

Title comes from Dr. John D. Moore's _Confusing Obsession With Love. _If you still don't have any idea what this story will be going to be about from that clue, then you're hopeless. XDXD. This story will have four parts (derived from the Obsessive Love Wheel as well) and fifteen-something amount of chapters. Lots of smut coming. And just the typical SasuHina obsessive love that has its own bandwagon somehow. Like seriously? We all secretly harbor a crush with an insane!Sasuke... XDXD. Idea comes from me remembering the Big Brother TV show with the question in my mind: how would one live when somebody is always watching you? Stalking to a whole new level eh!

Do review and tell me what you think. Next chapter should come after I update The Sweet Life (which would be approximately Tuesday next week). I write them at the same time so no worries for delays. Yay! Can't wait for the smutty part in this.

Vocab time: Masters is where Sasuke watches the main attraction. So it makes sense when I say in the next chapters that Hinata's image will spend some time there.


	2. Attraction: Discontentment

_Phase One_

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_Attraction_

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_(3) An immediate urge to rush into a romantic relationship regardless of compatibility_

_-_Confusing Obsession with Love. Dr John D. Moore (2006)

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02

Thursday morning and Hinata decides that it's about time to call her lawyer, Sakura. "I'm moving out today." She informs the pink-haired attorney from the other line tersely, while supervising the truckers load her belongings to the movers. A red four-wheeler truck is parked outside her lodgings, halfway filled already with the few trinkets she had accumulated over the years. Her precious breakable Chinese tea sets are not something she trusted with these burly men hired by the company but the rest should be alright. So she's ready to go. "So don't bother come addressing any of your mails here in Hagoromo." Hinata adds. "I'd be out of here by afternoon. But I'll send you the correct address as soon as I can, kay? And oh by the way, I'm not changing my number so it should be fine."

The divorce lawyer makes an approving grunt from the static. Hinata could tell she is vigorously nodding her bubblegum head now. "Well Hinata, you certainly do need the break." she remarks, practically echoing the same thing her co-workers all have congregated into kindly advising her to. She hears the telltale shuffling of papers from the other side and quickly deduces that Sakura must be on another tough case again, with the phone between her inclined head and suspended shoulders. The epitome of a busy woman that her friend is. "Where do you say you are moving to?" she asks.

"Sharingan building."

The sounds of secretarial activity pauses. Hinata imagines her friend's jaw falling in awe with a small smirk she rarely ever sports. "You mean that sliver building in the Hokage avenue?" the woman on the phone practically ejaculates, sounding like she's about to shriek out her delight but only ended up relenting into superficial gasping because she should be more civil than that. "My. My. How far you have come Hinata…" She praises. A shrug is heard from the other line. Sakura abandoning her table in favor of swiveling around her seat in wonder? Hinata understands that Sakura's profession never pays enough for her own rather expensive needs. But the Hyuuga doesn't really comprehend why she would be so impressed about her moving in the building.

"Well.. the rent is not that costly actually…" she chooses to humbly respond, remembering how she found out just yesterday that about thirty percent of her initial payment has been sent back to her account, filling her savings once again into a significant brim. A note has been in scripted along with the bank memorandum, with it bearing the news that the market has gone up and that she should rightfully get back her rollback. At another time, she would have been peeved more than impressed by the company's apparent honesty. But as she is a paying customer now and no longer a schooled business critic, she is more than glad to take the discount. "I could afford it."

"Well, you're a Hyuuga." Sakura responds absentmindedly with a long, deep sigh. It sounds regretful. Envious even. But Hinata, as who she has grown to be just let that pass. "But if I have to say something, it still costs a fortune. Kiba says so and he's been living there for three years. He's from a rich family, true. But that's probably just him trying in vain to be humble. Ha!"

"K-Kiba-kun?" Hinata stutters out, surprised that of all the people she would meet in her new home, she might just be waiting for another encounter with her ex-boyfriend. She doesn't notice the smile forming in her face at the thought. She missed him. "H-he lives there too?"

"With Akamaru as well." The attorney confirms in playful mischief much to Hinata's extra glee. Subtlety can go unnoticed to her as well. Hinata is almost always sincerely happy. "And for the past three years he has been short of nothing but proud of his place of residence. Great suites. Wonderful staff. All that jazz they boast in the advertisements but like a maverick actually holds the truth for once. He says there's remarkable security there too so you should be good. Really. It sounds like great and super stuff only made for the rich."

"I noticed." Hinata replies back in agreement, referring only to the security part. Which is why she fell in love with the whole idea of living there in the first place. The camera in the elevator. At least someone up there knows who comes in and who comes out. That's handy. "There are a lot of cameras around the hallway and several detectors of any kind in the entrance so I guess I wouldn't be dying in a terrorist attack anytime soon?" She laughs at her own joke. She knows well she's pathetic. "Well, unless of course if it's someone from the inside."

Sakura snorts good-naturedly. She must be playing with her hair now, twirling lovely pink strands like a kindergarten child would. The lawyer drones: "Typical Hinata. Cynical and pessimistic as ever. Who would want to do that to you?"

Hinata doesn't even pause to check the sword she have for a tongue these days. "Well… Someone close to me already did." She says carefully but still rather offhandedly, thinking of her own father. "I wouldn't be surprised If a stranger would try."

Silence ensues. From both lines crackles the strange cacophony of discomfort, deafening them both into suddenly feeling awkward with their own skin. In which Sakura realizes her mistake. Indeed. Hinata is quite the pessimist. "You know, Hinata…" she begins, her voice laden with sympathy that Hinata doesn't want anything to do with. She hears another batch of papers being fussed about. "You know… that the restraining order should keep you safe, right? No one would bother you now."

"I know." The Hyuuga answers forlornly, hearing the distant thrumming of her own heart amidst her own monotony. She was made skeptical by all the deception. Made stronger by all the lies. She smiles slightly to herself, glad to see that Sakura is nowhere near to see how broken it is. How much she really needs a break. She says. "But indeed, what do we know?"

What does one, indeed?

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The sun is shining brightly up the heavens, casting its blessed yellow glow in the plain blue canvas up the skies. No clouds. Two boxes are piled up around Hinata's struggling arms—her brittle, fragile tea set she received from her late mother- when she recognizes the familiar face that is courteously opening the door for her. His wild grin is still a glaring but pleasant contrast to his feral, animalistic features. Leather jacket. Uncouthed hair. And the ever loyal companion now barking happily beside him as a way of greeting her.

"Kiba-kun." She acknowledges, smiling happily at the man she hasn't seen since she was disowned. The one she dated briefly but ended up parting as cordial as any couple should. It's been too long. Hinata remembers with a start that they used to be the best of friends as well.

"Hinata." He chirps back with an elaborate bow that has him shove his nose in his bowlegged knees. Without being prompted into a request, he gallantly takes the top box from her grasp in a comical imitation of 19th century chivalry, grinning exultantly the whole time. Her load significantly decreased, Hinata sighs to herself in relief.

Straight-armed, Kiba opens the door for her and they enter the building. The doorman is currently held busy with the suitcases she has brought with herself from the cab she just disembarked from so she is grateful. From around her, more young men begin rushing towards her other belongings. All the while wearing a cordial smile of welcome as they pass by her. The red-haired receptionist nods. And some utility man who is fixing the chipped tiles on the marble floor grins, fangs glinting under the luminescence of the unique "Sharingan" lights. From the corner of her eye, she spots Juugo speaking to what she could only assume as another client, giving the inquiring man the same treatment that she got. So far, Hinata hasn't been discouraged. Friendly people. Guaranteed comfort. It seems that she made the right decision after all.

And of course, there's her friend. Kiba… A familiar face amidst a huge mop of strangeness. Something that is at least close to her inside the alien world of Xen.

Above the silver elevator doors, 23 glows in red digits.

Glancing up briefly at the sign board, Kiba turns back to her and says. "I didn't know you were moving in." he remarks in askance, head cocked. Beside him, Akamaru barks what sounds like an affirmative, as if concurring to his master's sulky pout; something they always did when she tried to play hooky all by herself. Kiba has always been one who preferred to fit in, even though he never does."If I knew you would be here, I would have cancelled all my plans for today and help you with the works. Have a drink or two. Catching up, you know."

"I didn't even know you live here until Sakura told me." Hinata replies with good humor, staring at the elevators. It seems stuck. Someone must be holding them. It's a pity she doesn't have her arms in commission to pat Akamaru in the meantime. She certainly needs the fidgeting now. "But thanks for your kindness. I can handle things perfectly well. The staff offered to help. And there are the movers I paid for too."

"Wow… seems like they really are being extra nice now eh... I didn't get any pampering like that when I moved here. Pretty much left me and Akamaru to do the job." Kiba shrugs mournfully. "Must be the new management then. Or maybe you are a big time customer who pays well that they can't afford to lose you. Or maybe that's because you have grown to be a really pretty girl. What do you do these days Hinata? I haven't seen you in like, a year?" Yes, the last they met is an accidental run-in in one of the restaurants in Niigata. It didn't last long. "And oh, Kurenai-sensei lives here too."

"With whom?" Hinata is more confident of the answer than she is surprised of the coincidence of having her former tutor live in the same building too.

"Asuma."

She chuckles.

"I'm a writer." She answers to Kiba's inquiry of her welfare with a smile. "Not very good. But I manage."

"Ah." He remarks, seeming blissful at this momentous news. "I always knew you would head somewhere with your ace in all the lit classes. Me and Akamaru are members of the K-9 team by the way, if you still haven't guessed it by my uniform and the badge." He points proudly at his chest. "See this Konoha Police coat of arms? That means I'm not some bloke who sniffs for contrabands in the airport. I'm more than that! I'm Sherlock Holmes baby!"

Hinata chuckles. Kiba hasn't changed. At all. Something like this is always refreshing. A break. That's what she needs. Hinata knows well that Kiba wouldn't ask anything personal unless it's his business. If anything, he would be too absorbed in placating himself to bother about anything in another person's life. Friend or not. That's how self-absorbed he is without sounding too arrogantly full. She says. "You're more like Toby to me though but he's useful so no offense." She waits for him to smile like he always did after a left-handed compliment. He does. "So I assume you have a case somewhere where your imminent presence is needed? You really seem to be in a hurry hm."

"I'm getting my kit there." He replies in explanation, shoulders sagging slightly in disappontment. "Of all time I have to be busy, it's when you really could use my wonderful company."

"That's really nice though. So tell me about it."

The elevators stay closed. Kiba's foot tapping in impatience. The crew has long since taken the special elevators allocated only for the movers, a wide vertical transporter that can even fit a car. She looks up once more the signboard. Twenty-three still. What in the world is taking so long? "It's a baffling murder case." Her friend informs her with an unusually laconic reply. He appears lost in thought, an oddity in itself. Kiba isn't much of a thinker. He's too impulsive as it is to be like Shino. The adult world probably drilled to him that such things should be classified information. But then again, Kiba is still one to yammer lightheartedly about such morbid things. His colorful vocabulary… His comedic take on even the most depressing of things… All of which reminds her of… No! No! "Some sick guy finding it nice to kill hookers all around and play like Jack the Fucker."

"Oh God."

"The same modus operandi too. Mutilates them and then poof—he vanishes like he never came there in the first place."

"That's horrible!"

"But don't worry! This case is far from the Leather Apron blunder" he assures her conceitedly, puffing his chest in pride and elbowing her playfully. Things he did while they are still in highschool. Even when they are dating, Kiba has always treated her reverently like he would a sister. Shino too. Though he is more like her shoulder to cry on."With me and Akamaru on the force, we'd catch the culprit. We'd be unstoppable! Ha!" To which the enormous hound only woofs in agreement.

She laughs. These days are what she really missed. Kiba laughing beside her. Akamaru doing his own version of a doggy chuckle. Sakura is right. Maybe going back to what she is used to back then is what she terribly needs as a break for now. "I'm moving in 13B." she tells Kiba, done with having another Saucy Jack wannabe repeat history. "From Hagoromo street."

"Hm. So not in the Hyuuga compound any longer?"

"Got disowned. Six years ago."

"Ah. I see." He murmurs, nose scrunched. "Well, I'm just up there in 18B. So if you need anything, you can always ring me up. I'd drop by one of these days to check things out with the new suite. Catching up and all that. We're great friends after all and I'm taking Shino with me too, in case you can bear all the weirdness overload. The guy really took it hard when you move away, you know. Says I'm only bearable when you're around."

"You stayed in contact with Shino-kun?" Hinata is more than ecstatic. "How is he?"

"Still a creepy, insect dude." He chortles, shifting his weight from one giddy foot to another. "But at least it's official now. People call him an entomologist these days. Fancy, huh?"

The elevator doors finally slide sideward and from inside a tall, dark-haired man in a white, high-collared shirt emerges, his posture regal and an aura that only speaks of class. Black spiky-hair in the back and mirrored sunglasses that obscure what in all likelihood are intense eyes of matching colors. He is quite the looker. Well-defined facial structure and chiseled features. Looks to be somewhere near her age. The handsome man glances at the both of them furtively, at the cartons they have in their arms and finally drifts towards the new face—her- before likely dismissing them as uninteresting with a slight frown and trots smoothly towards the door.

Kiba presses the appropriate buttons once they shuffle inside, smiling at her.

Amidst the tranquility of the glass box, Hinata finds herself gazing at the rapidly changing numbers by the door—1,2,3- and pans upward towards the rotating surveillance camera by the ceiling. Useful things that have many a time solved cases singlehandedly. Their presence in any establishment is reassuring to most and Hinata is certainly no exception. And yet one would still regard it as disquieting. Somewhere up there, there is an unseen watcher and contemplating about their existence makes this kind of security measure sound more like intimation on one's privacy.

Good thing, they only have it where it needs to be.

The door slides open. 13. Hinata is the first to alight. Her suitcases are already piled up neatly by the door of her suite, the crew standing up abruptly at the sounds of her arrival. Two young men come towards her to help her with the boxes and Hinata reminds herself to hand all these people a generous tip for their help. And maybe better yet, a snack.

"I know the neighborhood around here quite well." Kiba mentions, holding his hand forcefully on the door's edge so as to prevent it from closing. His grin is contagious. "… so if you need a tour…"

She asks the first thing that comes to mind. "Are there any bookstores near here then?"

"There's Kakashi's two blocks away. Fancy place. I was told you can find every book you are looking for there. He lives here too so you can just ring the old pervert up and grab your orders."

Hinata winces. The tenants in here are proving to be rather… interesting. What's more? Everyone seems to know everyone. "Sounds nice." The remark comes out halfhearted.

Kiba takes no offense though. He never does. "It is." He says, cocking his head to one side. His eyes are brimming with nostalgia, as if reminiscing about something. "I really missed you Hinata and all I have to say is that welcome to the building and I hope you do enjoy your stay here."

"Thank you.." She really means that. "Kiba-kun."

He continues to hold the door open.

Akamaru barks.

Hinata looks up. "Ano… Kiba-kun… Don't you think you are taking too long?"

Realizing the inconvenience caused by unnecessarily holding the elevators for down below, Kiba's hands fly and the elevator doors slides back towards the center. "See you.." she hears him bellow before he completely disappears.

She smiles. "See you too." She whispers into the closed doors.

.

.

With all the manpower the management has kindly trusted for her disposal, Hinata managed to do everything. In no time too; to the point that as she surveys everything after a short snack with the rest of those great people that this building employed, she quickly affirms that this indeed is a place that would be different from the old one. Memory-free, comfortable living, accessible… What's more? She gets to reunite with old friends and meet a few other wonderful people! Yamanaka Ino from next door has dropped by to present her a batch of homemade cookies with a dynamite smile so blinding you'd know instantly that she's the "it" girl you'd mistake for a toothpaste commercial model. She's that much of a bombshell. Blond hair and stunning blue eyes that rivals even the vividness of the skies above. Hinata recalls with a sharp pang how she used to be overly fond of that particular coloring once upon a time too.

Ino is a nice enough, chatty young woman though and in a matter of few cookie bites, the effervescent woman has managed to cajole the Hyuuga into listening to her various stories. About the former tenants in her suite, the wide berth of information Hinata did gather is about people named Zabuza and Haku, the latter of which dying just recently from a cancer complication. It's a sad story, one that Hinata would prefer to be obliterated from her residency as soon as possible. There's this bit about Kiba as well, who isn't really on good terms with the building's maintenance men because of the regular damages Akamaru is unavoidably causing. There's the thing about some BDSM couple upstairs too but she has zoned out on that one. Ino's father is apparently a shrink as well and that "if you think you're having problems, no matter what don't go to him." Some promotional daughter Ino is. Single too and when asked whether she's currently dating anyone, the blonde inexplicably only looks sad.

Juugo came by to make her sign a few things. Some guy named Suigetsu checked the plumbing. And the supervising manager makes an appearance in a form of bespectacled, silver-haired man whose apparent good will with her she only ends up getting wary with. Overall, they have all promised in a civil manner that they are going to take good care of her, something she is very much thankful for and very determined to reciprocate through any means. This is the break she needs. Once in a while, she needs to feel like a babied princess too.

At seven, she phones Hanabi, then Neji, then Sakura, then Tsunade, then Jiraiya… Some people who mind about whether she is still alive and well… Some people who still matter to her. Both her sister and older cousin have tried in vain to convince her into living them once again in the compound. Sakura promised to visit. Tsunade recommended installing a bar. And Jiraiya was for a moment concerned whether she would arrive in time for work as usual. To which she only responded to everything with an indifferent huff of dismissal.

She earns the right.

Today, she sighs contently to herself. Today has been an awfully long day.

Deciding that a quick soak in the lovely black tub is a must, Hinata starts to undress.

.

.

He has taken his clothes off when she did.

It is but an impulse, something he never did imagine doing even at the wake of the most alluring of women. He has numerous of them throwing themselves promiscuously at his feet, desiring to even just come into proximity to be able to kiss his soles. Several times, he took them into his bed and yet never has he seen himself this enchanted by the wiles of just another beautiful stranger.

He has switched her on the masters, two televisions of substantial sizes facing adjacent to each other and showing twin images of her sliding down the warm bubbles, her breath boiling the ones that are around her submerged face. She has her eyes closed, her limbs splayed and her back hunched as she basked against the relaxation brought by the bath she prepared for herself. From the ripples around the water, he can tell that she's also stroking herself. Nothing kinky. Just masturbation for what it is worth—relaxation. Sasuke can't blame her. After all, today has been a long day. The poor girl must be tired. If there is anything she needs in the world right now, it is something to ease the exhaustion. He makes a mental note to have Karin recommend to her the massage center in the lounge room. She certainly needs it.

Today has been a good day to him as well. He has spent the whole of it watching Hinata get personal with her suite, with her skipping around it like a pixie with a magic touch. He noticed that she is unwaveringly nice even to those below her station, patient with the random mistakes and consoling even in her infrequent reprimands. Has a good eye for furniture and with a great choice of color scheme as well. White and purple, some of the few things he actually agrees about. She is a great listener to boot. Rather introverted, judging that Ino did most of the talking which is in any case, the talkative blond's standards for a good friend. She has friends too but obviously not a very active social life. In a way, she is the much milder version of him. Someone who could sympathize with him but not necessarily relate to.

Like his mother.

It got boring after a while though. Even with Hinata of dark hair and fair skin… purple, fitting tank top and buttocked jeans… hanging clothes and inspecting ceilings… Her poor taste in music didn't help as well. Carpenters singing in the background, asking why birds suddenly appear…

_Just like me… they long to be… close to you…_

He put her on two and watched as the Naras got into yet another fight. Yoshino getting more irritable each day. Shikaku going home late at night. Shikamaru is nowhere to be seen. Kakashi had friends over. Sai was taking stalker polaroids again. Ino sobbing to sleep. But that got old again so he went back once more to Hinata. Seven P.M. in a holiday. Most people are out for the night and there is nothing worthy to watch. Even watching Kurenai and Asuma argue about nothing should be entertaining enough. Those few others he ultimately decided he should just record. Anko watching porn. Inoichi on the phone with a suicidal patient. Hinata humming in the kitchen…

He focuses fully on her then… Finding her naked already… Poised for a bath… Joining her in her nudity… Concluding quickly to himself that she indeed is quite beautiful…

What man could possibly leave this goddess for another?

The two of her side by side in the masters…

Beautiful…

So beautiful…

Perfectly sculpted body. That wonderful dark hair. Those enigma for a pair of lavender-colored eyes. He is sure Mikoto would have loved her; would have doted on her even. He conjures up an image of his mother nodding approvingly at his choice and smiles contently to himself.

Hinata…

Twice, she looks over at him, pale eyes boring inquisitively in wonder as if she can see him too. Beyond the Sharingan Light… Beyond the sophisticated surveillance equipment installed inside the indescript Art Deco disk. Once he thought she is waving at him, only to sulk when it turns out that it is just her swatting a stray mistiness around her sensitive eyes, tendrils of smoke languidly drifting upwards her sightline. Nevertheless, Sasuke can't just resist. He waves back, palm raised and smiles. "Hi Hinata…"

He most definitely is not feeling pathetic.

He recalls that he hadn't been very nice to her when they met. Just earlier. At the elevators. She looks even more beautiful up close. Rather lacking in height—true. And a pretty formal fashion sense. However, that doesn't stop him from getting intimidated. He would have despised himself for being such a cowardly chicken. But Kiba is there. So avoiding her in the meantime is perfectly excusable, right?

Good things like her after all are not always meant to be touched…

Like mother…

He sighs, his dark eyes closed in decision and his bare, naked body sprawled against his swivel chair. His hand holding his dick. The other clenching into a fist. He hasn't been nice to Hinata. Mikoto wouldn't like that. So it seems like he still has to make up for it.

He promises to no one in particular, that he certainly will.

.

Hinata couldn't shake the feeling of disquiet as she finds herself drawn once again to the enigmatic chrome center of the Sharingan Light.

It really looks like an eye. Colored red with dotted calligraphy that seems like the pupil and the iris. Having more of these optical attributes that even her featureless, white eyes can't compare to. Staring… Staring… Staring… it doesn't help at all that she has this notion that the eye follows her every move which is by the way, probably just her and her wrecked nerves. Thinking about it, she realizes that it's probably only because it reminds her of Kurenai's eye who when she was a child, has also taken into watching whatever she does. The epiphany, however does little in removing the heavy feeling she has on her chest. The red light blinks. She stares.

Maybe someone is thinking ill of her?

That kind of sixth sense has always been a rumored possibility in anyone's lifetime but she never thought much about it until now. Has she just inadvertently made an enemy in her short interactions with the people in this building. Ino? Kiba? Juugo? Suigetsu? The red-haired receptionist? Or maybe even that good-looking guy from the elevator? Hinata can't pinpoint it exactly out what lies amidst the nebulosity but somehow this foreboding she is currently experiencing seems to be the first bad news she is yet to receive as a vibe with this building so far.

Hopefully, there won't be more…

She continues on feeling herself up, inserting two fingers to where the ache centers and lightly fondling the twin mounds that keeps floating up no matter how much she tries to sink them down. She touches her neck. Massages her collarbone. Squeezes her breasts. Pumps the more adventurous fingers furiously inside. All the while lathering each soap bubble efficiently around her stressed body. Hinata's eyes shut in pleasure. Nothing toe-curling. But perhaps this is what she really needs.

When the time comes for her to come undone at last, she slumps to herself in the tub. And there is quietude.

Which is succinctly interrupted by the quiet, ominous whirring of the Sharingan.

..

.

Amazingly enough, they both came at the same time.

It is great… for what it was worth.

And so Hinata rises from the tub, her beautiful nude profile turned perfectly towards his view. He watches both of her in the masters slowly cover herself with the robe. Tying it around her waist while putting her damp hair in a loose bun. She walks out of the bathroom. He switches the feed to the bedroom. Watches her get dressed, dry her hair, apply some facial cream to her already flawless face. Beautiful. Sasuke admires how alike her nightly routine is to what his mother once practiced. Mikoto had always been one with simple tastes but even she couldn't deny the peace brought by a great bath and the little bit of vanity that comes afterwards.

Wiping his now deflated member from the soaks of himself and walking towards the toilet to flush down the used tissues in his desperation to be in sync with her, Sasuke realizes something. Now that he has seen her both in person and in action…

He couldn't possibly be made satisfied with just watching her, right?

(TBC)

…

So you answer the question: do you want Sasuke to just come down the thirteenth floor and rape Hinata or shall the poor guy be forever doomed with voyeurism while the girl takes hot guys home? XDDD

Sasuke is a creep. Hands down. And contrary to popular belief, he is pretty hard to write as a madman. I don't know how others manage with ease. But to me, this chapter is an unrelenting monster which only manages to write itself down when a) I'm sleepy b) I have to leave immediately and can only spare thirty minutes in the computer and c) After I have a somewhat satisfying progress with The Sweet Life. Hm.

Wow. Great traffic for this story. I am surprised that many people like the premise and because of that, I am now officially focusing on this as well as I do with TSL. So expect weekly updates and the jazz, provided I get my review dosage (hinthint). Don't worry. I have the outline written already (5000 words of undetailed short story) and all I need is to just expand the story. Updates should be regular.

Please review. I'd like to see about what you think as well.

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	3. Attraction: Commencement

_Phase One_

_._

_Attraction_

_._

_(4) The beginning of obsessive, controlling behavior begins to manifest_

_-Confusing Obsession with Love. Dr. John D. Moore (2006)_

03

.

When upon opening your eyes, the first thing you see is but a series of multicolored hues spinning together into what is worldly artistic—golden pavements, green surrounds, perfectly blue skies—you know well that you are in a place that is closest to heaven as it could get. Perhaps the Elysium. Possibly Olympus. The name hardly matters. The spectacle does.

As a child, Hinata had imagined that it was her soul allowing itself to vacate momentarily from her exhausted body, soaring up and up in order for her to reunite with the angels, her spirit gliding upwards in graceful, coordinated levitation. She would sing there. She would dance all night long. Bask under the wonder of being rid from all the problems you shoulder in the world. It would be like Atlas finally having the world lifted off his burden. Sleep to her, is always when you can breathe as you should.

Her mother sang to her the most lulling of lullabies. Her father made sure she was safe when she slept, owing to a near-death experience she had when it proved that even in the confines of her bedroom, there was still danger. Which is why it's only understandable why she cherished being in dreams like no other. It is, to her safe respite from everything that is threatening to topple her existence, anything that challenges her. Hinata has never been a brave soul as far as she is concerned and perhaps this is really what she is destined for. Running away while she can, escaping the harsh reality, letting herself be consumed by her inherent cowardice; because as lucidly as she can remember, the last time she stood up to someone, it didn't really end well. It's always best to be safe.

Prone to hyperventilating about everything at daytime, Hinata's only chance of ever being normal is the luxury of a good night's sleep. But even that has been harshly taken away from her.

Lest sleep be plagued by the visions of _him_ again…

Many times, she grew tired of her childish daze—for all she does in there are things she wouldn't have done when awakened- and finally lets herself be burdened once again by the trials of wakefulness where at least you are in absolute control. Back then, dreams of such bliss were a norm. They are a right, not a privilege. What with children as of yet not having an iota of grasp about how cruel life would be a decade later. And the fact that in a second, things could spiral out of hand. How could Naruto and her have to be like this? Why couldn't the world just let her live with whom she wants to for the rest of her life? This is her chaos. This has been her life of dreamless sleep in the past few months. The emptiness she feels. The regret in which she wonders how it could have been. Wasteful thoughts that don't help at all. Witnessing this apparent peace now in her dreamscape, she finds herself subconsciously surprised.

She hasn't seen heaven in the past few years.

And consciously as well—although she is a bit naively entranced in the meantime by the beauty of everything she sees to bother addressing the gravely fact that this isn't real and that this is unusual and that she shouldn't delude herself into thinking this is finally a lovely premonition. For what does she have for a better life? Until today, her world revolved around Naruto and now that the sun of her world has forever relinquished its light, is there ever a chance for the bleak that is her to stand out? This new home is but a consolation. If anything, she would have traded it in a flash if it meant getting back what she had before. But her subconscious, for all its awareness, only concedes into letting her wallow in this temporary break. To give her a taste of heaven even though it's all but an illusion.

One of the real-life applications of the most popular clichés. If this is a dream…

Don't wake me up.

It's been far too long. She hadn't had this feeling of being uplifted since the days her family left her in the dust, since Naruto did what he did and since the torturous days that followed in her lonesome tenancy in Hagoromo street. So maybe moving in the Sharingan is really the break she needs, she muses as she treads on the precarious cloud pathway in her dream. She doesn't know it yet. Nobody does. But in a minute, part of her knows that all of this beauty would be gone with the drifting wind.

Everything good in life would eventually be gone, right?

But it's always nice to know you are going to wake up in something that is better than the home you are used to. Sharingan Building. It certainly is proving itself quite well in just a matter of the first few hours.

The birds continue chirping. Harps are being played somewhere. From around her the sun is shining majestically, casting an ethereal glow to the already otherworldly greatness of the place she is fortunate enough to grace her feet on. There are trees all around and yet she finds herself stepping on the clouds as well, the air suddenly very tangible whenever she so much as set foot on it. Whenever she so much desires a seat, a chair appears. The branches part as if in reverence of her. And the birds sing louder. It is like… everything is made easy for her here.

And it gets even better.

Below her is seemingly a window to everybody's lives, clouds congregating and forming a misty circle where the whole of human race can be seen. She leans down, very much fascinated by the spectacle. Faceless and nameless blokes pass around in a hurry but their haste doesn't stop Hinata from reading their stories from the smallest of their body language. Hunched shoulders indicate surrender. Distantly trudging couple screams domestic violence. Longing glances speak of unrequited love. She doesn't stop to think where this spontaneous expertise stemmed from. She watches people she doesn't know go to and fro beneath her, minding their own business and blissfully unaware of the hidden eyes that are sneaking a peek in their controversial lives. And for the first time in her life, Hinata feels like the title character in all of her stories. Travelling back in time in order to spy on how people lived. Not privy of the fact that they are already prying.

She wonders if this is afterlife after all.

But something snaps her back. This feeling… This feeling… Hinata shivers. Why does it feel so familiar? And there is engulfing of darkness, shadows creeping all the beauty all around and the black painting the once colorful canvas. From behind her, she feels an intense stare burning. And she already knows…

Sharingan light blinking amidst all the black in her vision.

The red, red eyes of watchfulness…

Watching… watching… watching…

.

.

He watched her make the bed. He watched her throw herself on it. Now as she comfortably lies down away from the torture of wakefulness and into dreamland, he can only do little but make sure no one harms her whilst she's away. Sasuke wants her to feel at home as much as possible and what better to do than guard her like a hawk as his mother used to do with him?

Hinata's first night in the building and Sasuke chooses not to sleep. He never properly does anyway—burdened as he is by… no.. no.… not the time to talk about that— so an all nighter wouldn't be much of a crippling sacrifice. There's wine in the fridge. There's instant coffee ready. And watching her be dressed in that scant see-through nightdress is entertaining enough if he decides to think about what he would do should he be there instead of the ridiculous number of pillows around her.

He knows he would love it. He always loved it when Mikoto slept next to him.

Instead he only opts for the littlest of naps while lethargically lounging around his seat, eyes still drawn towards her prone, sleeping body being live-fed in the masters, the both of her lying under the blankets in a too compressed fetal position. Back hunched. Knees curled. Arms draped securely around herself. She tosses and turns. Grumbles unintelligible phrases from time to time. Drools a bit before she shakes it away through some sheet rubbing. Sasuke can't remember Mikoto being this messy as a sleeper but considering that the late Uchiha Matriarch always have to be prim and proper when he is around, he assumes that this should be normal when the person thought they can trust privacy. He keeps a sharp eye on her, wary of any signs that she is uncomfortable of her new arrangement. Any reasons for her to leave prematurely should be immediately eliminated. That's how Sharingan is.

He wants her to sleep well for once.

The pretty face deserves it.

2AM is never the hottest time of the day, contrary to popular belief and for Sasuke, who is a hustler when it comes to people's daily routine, 2am is as uneventful as it could get. No sex even. Just people getting intimate with their beds and even though they have their hands under their boxers, that sight gets boring after a while. But today is a significantly different day. Hinata is here now. Watching her is no longer just a hobby to pass the time and calm his nerves. As expected. It's strange—absurd even— but he feels protective of her. Don't ask him when it happened. But it's probably when she was nice to the employees he was normally harsh on. Yamato Nadeshiko. She would make the perfect man very happy someday. Until then, he was going to make sure she would be untouched.

This is an obligation. Mikoto wouldn't like if something happened with this girl under his meticulous watch.

Mikoto wouldn't want something like _that_ to happen to Hinata too.

And oddly enough the Heavens must be on his side as people seem to make up for the lack of activity earlier last night. Things certainly are not boring like usual. Better than any variant of Karin's coffee or any wine's inebriation. Dozing Hinata stays in the masters and the infamous laundry room, once again is featured on 2. Shikaku wants to end things. Ino is being exceptionally stubborn. And they end up having sex anyway. And here he secretly hoped there would be some drama. Of course, he could always make an anonymous phone call to the already perceptive and suspicious Yoshino. But that would be against his will to be as objective to his subjects' lives as is possible

At the seventh floor being showcased in the fourth monitor, Hayate and Baki are having a fierce fistfight, too much of a scuffle that they may end up killing themselves. He has already alerted Kabuto, with enough sugarcoating so that the manager wouldn't even suspect that Sasuke could see it before his eyes. But that hardly helps. Yugao and the rest of his idiotic security staff are panicking. Kiba is still out somewhere so no hopes in scaring them into submission with the snarling huge mutt. Even Kakashi the resident peacemaker is out cold. Sasuke would rather not have policemen butting their heads inside his building but with how things are going, he isn't one to be taking risks in being sued negligence. When it all comes down to something worrisome, he resolves that the 911 buttons is always ready to be punched.

3AM and the brawlers are finally separated. Thankfully, there isn't much of a racket. Kabuto managed to play justice in the meantime, without involving them to any further judiciary scandal. Sasuke takes note that he would give the bespectacled man a raise someday—and Juugo too since he certainly did a good job in finding clients. There's a new one interested in 9A. Kurenai doesn't seem pleased at all by her floormate's noise. Tenten is at the wrist-slashing business yet again. This time after staring at the jar of anticoagulant she must have stolen from her shrink's office. Hinata, fortunately is all the way down the thirteenth floor and away from the chaos of the upper ones, continues her trek to dreamland.

Anko wakes up to have a quickie with some bloke she took home—a seemingly drunk man in green spandex. Orochimaru is at the pedophile fetish yet again, his gross need sufficiently satiated by the kid Kabuto brainwashed with some candy. Suigetsu finally realizes he has dozed off in the tub this whole time. Karin sleeps with Sasuke's shirt on—still unwashed it seems—and occasionally murmurs his name in a wanton utterance. He flinches. Hinata snores all these away, seemingly innocent to all the atrocities even those in deepest slumber can commit in the earliest of mornings.

5AM and she groans quite audibly.

His ears perk up, senses suddenly flared and alert. From the monitors he can see her toss and turn even more violently, causing her wildly flailing feet to kick the covers away as she clutches the mattress in sheer desperation. Her mouth opens in a soundless scream. Tears start to leak from her still shut eyes. Feet shuffling away painfully, as if she is trying in vain to outrun somebody. The sheets are kicked. Hinata's hand clenches, her voice turn hoarse and the once peaceful smile of comfort turns into a gnawing snarl. The bed quakes. The springs creak.

All of this while Shion of 16A prays to Jashin as a late night routine, mumbling incoherent incantations to a nonexistent deity. Monitor seven stays ignored though. His eyes are rapt in attention to the masters.

Hinata…

She is having a nightmare.

Eyes fixed on the screen, he fingers his gin and tonic he prepared after the fight was resolved, his hands trembling uncontrollably. Absently stirring. The spoon twirling around the liquid, thoroughly submerged.

Hinata resumes twitching, grunting, shivering in sleep. Fear… he concludes, is such a strong emotion. But one has to admit that it look quite good on her.

Everything Hinata does is beautiful after all.

Even though one day it might kill her.

Like his mother.

He doesn't want that.

Terribly worried, Sasuke has half the mind on turning on the fire alarm. If only to save her from getting consumed by the realms of the underworld. He knows the drill well. He has seen enough of it. His mother died while no one is watching. He couldn't let the same thing happen to Hinata, now that she's completely under his watch.

And then all of a sudden, her phone rings.

That does it. Her opalescent eyes snap back open in surprise. He sighs in utter relief.

Standing up, he goes into the kitchen to make himself another drink—this time stronger so as to momentarily soothe his nerves and listens all ears to the rush of footfalls in Hinata's suite and her frantic searching to where the incessant ringing—Nico Touches The Walls singing—originates. He stirs the drink and looks over the pass through where her beautiful image blares on the mammoth screens. She stands by the night table, a white cellphone on her cheek. A fire symbol keychain dangles. She has a frown on her face.

He mindlessly throws the wineglass back to the sink and hurriedly runs down towards the console, switching the sound louder and then activating the mobile phone link scanner without a hitch. He sits down on his warm chair and waits with bated breath for it to start. The oscillation bar escalates. And then somebody from the other line speaks. "Because dammit Hinata!" a man booms. Sasuke winces, turning the chappy volume down. "just a few minutes talking face to face! That's my only request! Is that such a big fucking deal?!"

…

.

.

To say that Hinata is surprised would be a grave understatement.

The clock says 5:05 when she hung up, feeling no better than before as she once again tried to get things over with Naruto. He hadn't contacted her for three months so she thought it was already over. That he was out having a new life while she was stuck in the remnants of her old one. Miserable. Her gut wrenched in paralyzing hurt. The hunch that she is getting too old for this. That this… this love she feels for a man who wouldn't try to admit what she already witness him do, will be the death of her. She didn't say much in his angry tirade but her overwhelming silence had spoken enough.

Naruto was beyond livid.

Or at least he sounded like it. The snarl in his voice was unmistakable. She only heard it once directed to her but it still is infallible in sending chills down her spine. He demanded to see her. She flatout refused. He was furious. So she hung up without ado and in severe retaliation, threw the phone where it would be forever irretrievable. Broken pieces of cord and plastic are strewn around the reinforcement living room windows, as useless as she is currently feeling.

She brings her fingers on her forehead, kneading it with her eyes closed. Early in the morning and this is what happens.

That dream… doesn't help at all.

This is not the Naruto she knows. This is not the Naruto she loves… loved. This is not the Naruto she hoped would return into being when she left.

Fighting back a sob, Hinata finds herself crumpling to the floor. Embraces herself and hides her face behind her knees. Because dammit world, she needs a damn break.

The Sharingan Light glares.

..

.

She is taking the bath once again.

Well after that show, she kind of deserves it.

After pouring her heart out into the pillows of her bed, Hinata had stood up like she should, wiped the incriminating tears out and rushed away to freshen up in optimistic hopes of a better day. Sasuke decides that he would forgive her for this blatant show of weakness this time. After what she has gone through, she should be entitled for a brief moment to ruminate in her sadness. He certainly didn't make any effort on stopping the tears when Mikoto passed even though it would gravely displease the bastard he has for a father and make things awkward for his already broken niisan. And after that, he was more than a man than anyone had thought a nine-year old should be.

So he knows that when it's all over, Hinata would be more of a one-of-a-kind woman than she already is.

Sasuke never understood what drove women to be this naive kind of sentimental martyrs—to cry for men that don't deserve any sliver of their grief. But they do it anyway. He saw it happen many times. Yoshino is still a great mother even in the light Shikaku's waning love. And in the end, Mikoto did decide to stay with Fugaku despite being treated worse than dirt. Women could be painfully dumb but Hinata is still so young. It should be okay for her to make a mistake or two before he'd be there to correct them all.

Because he has to make sure that no one—no one!—would ever come close enough to hurt her.

He would clean her dirt. He would do everything for her. The way he couldn't do anything for his mother.

With all the lights off this time, she wades in the tub and once more, Sasuke wants to kick himself for not following his brother's advice about changing the bathroom's motif to white. Or gray. Anything to make the infrared, night vision scene friendlier in the eyes. He turns the brightness to max, adjusts the contrast and inconspicuously brightens the Sharingan light in the bath a little bit. And there she is. In all her naked glory. Black and white but that's better than nothing. Hinata stares listlessly at the ripples caused by her rocking feet, eyes distant and probably thinking of the problem named Naruto. He wonders what he should do to erase that look from her. Thinking of another man doesn't suit her at all.

But she still is beautiful.

Later while watching her get dressed for an early morning jog, Sasuke realizes that this indeed, is the perfect time to meet her.

He is sure she would like him. Everyone does. Right?

Right?

..

.

Barely has she pressed the button to open the descending elevator's doors, when it just parts all by itself, revealing to her the wondrous perfection for am interior that a day of experience hasn't mellowed at all. Inside, the dark-haired handsome man from yesterday nods, nicely beckoning her to share the same space as he while regarding her with slight curiosity and a welcoming aura that she doesn't find offensive at all. The man is obviously of station, dressed casually without appearing shabby in a dark blue, high-collared shirt and indescript black pants. He has abandoned the shades and his dark as night onyx eyes are now staring her up and down that so far doesn't exceed the boundaries of courtesy. He looks like the type of guy Sakura would immediately gush over. He's admittedly… sexy. And he knows it.

The regal arrogance is there alright, enshrouding his beautifully sculpted frame like a distinguishable aura of importance and would make one think twice of breathing the same claustrophobic air as him. But being born to Hyuuga Hiashi and a close cousin to Neji is not one without benefits. Dressed only in normal jogging pants and loose-fitting shirt that probably doesn't even suit her, Hinata nods cordially back in return and stands besides him as the doors close before them.

She would have been star-strucked at another time. But she's too busy fuming to herself to bother.

He speaks first as soon as she comes inside. "You're new." He points out with furrowed brows, lips set into a thoughtful line. He has his hands shoved in his pockets, his back ramrod straight. First impression tells her that this is a guy who prefers not to waste time. Frank. Direct. Someone you wouldn't want to double-cross. "Moved in yesterday?"

Hinata blushes. She always does. "Yes." She replies politely, smiling. She extends a hand, as is drilled to her. "Hyuuga Hinata."

"Uchiha Sasuke."

The name is familiar… But she chooses not to think much of it. Half of the names she hears at a daily basis are all familiar, being a businessman's daughter tasked in customer data for a summer job in her teenage years and all. She eyes the tote bag in his hands. "Going for groceries?" she questions, surprised that someone does that on an early Friday morning. She always went for hers during Saturday afternoons, as well as the rest of the people she knows. Breakfast? Rather unlikely.

"Yeah." He answers shortly, raising the green bag. Then he seemingly reads her mind. "Got a night job. Basically doesn't have time except the mornings. And I'm running out of milk."

She makes an understanding grunt. "Oh." That makes a lot of sense. She realizes she herself is quite short on supplies. "Well, I can use some too. I haven't had the time with all moving as well. Where are you shopping? Because… ano… can I come with you? I'm new here so I still don't have any idea where to go."

He gives her a charming, dynamite smile. Well, that is unexpected, she frowns to herself while observing his handsome countenance. She thought he would be peeved and annoyed by her basically hiring him on the spot to be a tour guide. Not this pleased, as it seems to her with the idea of her joining him.

Maybe… she really should have just waited for Kiba to visit…

"Well, there is 7/11 around the corner." He answers, with a light shrug that altogether dispelled any of her disconcerting feelings. Maybe she's really just wary of the kindness of strangers. She really has to check up on that. "But I prefer the convenience store two blocks away. They sell more and the prices are quite good so the long walk should be worth it. Hm."

"Oh. I don't mind walking all the way." she insists. "I'm out for a jog anyway. I need the exercise."

"I noticed." He snorts in mock good humor. Hinata pouts. So he's quite rude as well. "You look out of shape. Like you haven't come out in a while. Well, Sharingan has a lot of going-ons around here so even if you are so much of a recluse that you'd hate the sun, you'd still be far from resembling a zombie. There's the pool in the top floor and the gym at the Twenty-fifth. And take the stairs next time. Don't worry it's safe around here." He points at the surveillance camera, looking proud. "We are being watched by the best."

"Hm. I noticed." She retorts. He laughs.

"You're quite fun.. huh…" he remarks. And the elevator doors open.

He smiles at her and gestures for her to follow him. With all his dark looks, he really is quite attractive after all. And here she thought, the school kings aren't her type. Tall, dark and handsome has never been her jam. She is more inclined to bright and cute type and look where it got her. She realizes then, that she wouldn't mind walking alongside him at all.

He is the total opposite of Naruto.

He walks right ahead of her. She meekly trails behind. For a moment Hinata is actually relieved that the mysterious man chose to lead the way unlike a certain someone who did walk beside her as soon as their first meeting.

Uchiha Sasuke. Twenty-five tops. Cute.

(TBC)

Lol. I got an overwhelming number of response last chapter and I'm glad that a lot of people shares my peeves against romanticizing rape. It's not a plot device I'm fond of although I myself am a great fan of dark, sexual romance. So rest assured that I'm going to play with Sasuke and Hinata's emotions for a while before things escalate into what you may coin as the "inevitable". I included "Romance" in the genre section for a reason after all so even though Sasuke would be extra creepy in here, he wouldn't be a rapist for no reason. :D

Yay! They met! So Sasuke is going to seduce her? Hm. Rather predictable don't you think? But I'd like to think there is more to be stemming from this than that. Lol. And yes, get ready for the horror! Brrrr… And the Oedipus Complex! Waahh.. More should be revealed later btw although I think they are rather plain as day by now. Me and my hints. I just couldn't resist!

Thankees for all the reviews. And I hope I get to hear more from you. Constructive criticisms are welcome and I'm loving the particularly long reviews I get. And oh yes, I'm aware I'm in terrible need for a beta. My English sucks hehe. Anyone interested?

Please review.

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	4. Attraction: Fantasy

_Phase One_

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_Attraction_

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04

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(5) Unrealistic fantasies about a relationship with one's main love interest, boyfriend/girlfriend assigning unrealistic qualities to an object of romantic infatuation and affection.

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Hinata's life—not her physical existence marked by the twenty-seventh day of December for that is but superficially immaterial—probably began when she was thirteen and feeling the smartest. It had been the turning point, to which it defined where exactly she was headed to. She fell in love for the first time and along the way she acquired an ambition, something her father always said she severely lacked before. Doodling her first crush's—surprisesurprise- Uzumaki Naruto's name around the fly edges of her notebooks ultimately culminated something into more than a teenage girl's fancy. Her fantasies with unconditionally happy romance just took shape and became a full blown story. And this was when her life as an author began.

Barely past eight grade and yet she managed through only a few mail stamps, some necessary white lies and a bit of sweat to win the ANBU magazine's most prestigious short story contest made only for people that were legitimate enough to receive the rightful compensation. She wasn't sixteen yet at the time but could any plot bunny ever wait? So she went for the kill and before she could muster the whim to regret things, sent the entry.

Upon its publication, Hinata soared on cloud nine and gloriously floated amidst the feeling of being proud of herself for once. The judges loved her, praising the quality of her work for its maturity of the romance's apparent development because she did it successfully without being overly sordid in her prose: a feat they were thoroughly surprised that she reached when they heard of her real age. The readers liked her—or on second thought, they probably liked her protagonist more. Her mother was proud to the point of tears and she was too. Being nicknamed as the next Emily Bronte was not something you hear as a schoolchild everyday. Not from a demanding father. Not from an overbearing clan. Not from overexpecting peers. So when the critics raved favorably, she was proud. And this was when she really started to… live.

Not yet encased in bitter retrospect and the burden of being a more knowledgeable adult, Hinata would have fangirlishly written in her diary that it was in all essence, meeting the amazing Naruto-kun for the first time that sparked this wondrous vitality in her. Like a butterfly shedding its life from a hiding pupa once the sun rose. Like a deer _saved _by the headlights. What's more? Like Hinata fainting over the thought of her and Naruto… and finding herself immersed into other possibilities where she industriously wrote about her puerile fantasy of other people's love and they lived happily ever after and together and forever. She was naïve then. As naïve as any smitten teenage girl could ever be who watched her first crush in a duration that would have made even her father cringe (and considering that Hiashi himself did relentlessly stalk her mother into submission, that is saying something). And yet had never had any shade of inkling of what he would be like when he would grow out of that inherent enthusiasm. When the world was being cruel and heads rolled and his had been one of them.

Or the shady supposition that perhaps the Naruto she is scared of now, has been there all along.

Her victory as the Best Short Story in the illustrious ANBU magazine didn't earn her money. In fact, it didn't earn her much acknowledgement (as she did unwittingly used a pseudonym in an hopeless attempt to emulate Dickens and pretend that she was only having fun) save in the form of an addressed letter from the magazine's editor-in-chief herself, complete with the authorized stamp and all the jazz that stated in no uncertain terms that they were glad that they finally tracked her and no, they don't care if she's still but a preteen and yes, thank you very much for singlehandedly increasing last month's sale through your delicious tale about Yunoki and Shiho playing cat and mouse around the world and ending up falling in love. And finally: yes, you are very much welcome to write more of these ridiculously fluffy masterpieces and could you pretty please with a cherry on top send them to us as soon as possible?

Hinata would have wanted to. Hell, she would have traded pointless schooling (and in a sense, seeing Naruto at a daily basis) in a heartbeat without qualms just to be a full-time writer in the ANBU. But that was only admissible if she wasn't born to the Hyuuga clan. Hiashi was skeptical of her writing skills; that the daughter he saw no value with whatsoever when she only started speaking late on her fourth year could actually fare well in the more prominent side of the corporate world. Which is the media. When her mother sang her praises as the budding Shakespeare, he would snort. When the infamous editor's letter was hung in the living room for everyone to see, he forcibly put it down that they have to relent for the bedroom wall space instead. When the magazine reprinted her story for the second time, he didn't even say a thing.

But that didn't deter Hinata in any way. Imagining her and Naruto together was easy. Writing for her had somehow come off as easier. Confidently as she has assessed, she realized that she, as a matter of proof, is not dumb as the people around her deem her to be. Introverted is the word. Intelligent enough to hide she was and aren't the subtle ones end up being the smartest anyway?

Thirteen was when her real life started.

Ironically enough, thirteen almost also permanently ended it.

The migraines came around the time she was halfway down her second short story—around the time Arisa and Hide met once again after seventeen years apart like soulmates-or in a more realistic standpoint, people who actually knew how to keep a long distance relationship would inevitably would. She never got to finish it. And the headaches got worse like a twittering bitch each passing day. Bright lights assaulted her during these episodes, the most prominent of them the color red. Sometimes there would be millions of freaky-looking owls crooning in a cacophony of dark symphony as well. But she could always see the red… the red in her vision. Most times, she felt like killing someone just for the sake of it. Perhaps it would decrease the pain. Perhaps it wouldn't. But she couldn't even murder a fly if she premidiatated it so the unusual bloodlust has to be repressed.

So she broke pencils instead.

It took her several more of those blinding explosion of rainbows appearing in her progressively blurring eyesight and brittle lead scattered in her fists to realize that this merely is not a bad case of the fabled writer's block. Quacks dismissed it however, as merely something curable with a couple of paracetamols and so Hinata, as resilient as she was, chose not to babble much.

However, a severe epileptic attack in school was all it took—while Neji stared dumbfounded at her pitiable convulsing form and the heroic, Naruto who knew enough of these emergencies from his brief travel stint with a former army man, saved her life—for her family and much earlier, the doctors to realize that all along, Hinata had been suffering from a brain tumor. The migraines were more than just something a dose of panadol could take care of. And it was growing on her insides. She wasn't dying, per se for fortunately, the tumor residing in her frontal lobe was but a benign nuisance anyone with money could have removed. But still, it was something more than worrisome. In a primitive world, a tumor was a big deal.

Everybody was relieved nevertheless. Well, except for her father who obviously preferred a dead daughter than a terminally afflicted one and the only one in probably the whole world who had the guts to ask the question every self-righteous doctor hated: how much does this cost?

He didn't care of the risks. One way or another.

In any case though, the operation was a surprising success. She lived. The tumor was gone and it may have been a shocker because of the statistics that said only 0.1% of people ever develop this, much less in so young an age. What odds did she have indeed? But luck smiled. And Hyuuga Hinata only ever recalled such happening whenever she happened to skim through her medical records and take a glance at the white scar her fringe so conveniently covered. Of course, right after which she couldn't move half of her body and the family was forced in hand to hire Kurenai as her personal nurse and home school teacher but the passing days only buried the predicament into the deep throes of insignificant memory. Because as far as she was concerned, she had had an operation as a child but she survived without being scathed… so no biggie right? The editor's letter still hung inside her bedroom. Her mother was still proud. Hiashi resumed being disappointed in her. She didn't care much. And Hinata continued to write.

But the thing was… After the operation, she just didn't feel like she was as good as she was before.

Writing to her suddenly became a challenge she always had to accomplish.

But no one should know that.

So she is pleasantly surprised when Uchiha Sasuke of the in all appearance stereotypical bad-boy disposition and the super expensive penthouse unit 21A perfunctorily mentioned to her that she is a really great author. And that he has read her books. All of them.

What self-respecting twenty-five-year-old would even have the time to read her _children's _books? The only thing she could even write as passable for her own standards these days?

Flabbergasted, she drawls so, her shock indiscreetly written on her transparently expressive features. She watches Sasuke smirk. Complacent. Such conceited look suits him the best. "That's a surprise…" she mutters in answer to his words of adoration, looking up at the enigmatically handsome man that is now currently perusing the various brands of milk and its corresponding expiration dates. She fidgeted at her basket's handle. She hesitates a bit. Sasuke nonchalantly resumes his scrutiny. "I didn't think…"

"That you're this popular? Hn." he completes, dark eyes slit in mirth as he quotes something that which most celebrities blurt out when attempting humility. Hinata can't help but blush hotly. That wasn't what she was supposed to say! "I don't know much about you but you're good so I guess you're worth reading? I enjoyed Sawada Hiroki and his adventures very much." His tone is that of askance but somehow his overall confident manner only refers to somewhat a reassuring certainty.

A vigorous headshake. "And worth remembering too?" She is skeptical. Because come on, she knows she can write fairly well when she really tried. But her children's books… because truthfully, that is what the shallow excuse for writing a sensible story her books are—are not exactly of Lewis Carroll caliber. They aren't nonsense, thankfully. But they aren't very delicious either which makes her wonder why someone even wants to make it an animated movie. She isn't one made to be recognizable. And she knows it. "I doubt that the recent prints of my books publish my picture in the backcover or something. They rarely do in children fiction. And my name shouldn't really ring much bells, should it? I mean… I write with a pseudonym."

This doesn't appear to faze the man at all. He puts the chosen milk on his basket and walks ahead. Hinata doggedly follows. "Guess I did my homework then…" he remarks easily in answer. "My nephew likes your books a lot and considering that I do the computer thing, he asked a lot of questions about you. Somehow, I myself got entangled into the fandom. A legitimate authoress' real name isn't much of a military secret. And you are a Hyuuga." That is a bullshit excuse she hears every now and then. Instinctively, she frowns.

Sasuke glances down at her."You couldn't really lodge a complaint about that, couldn't you?" he jokes

Despite herself, she chuckles. "About you being ano… a fan?" She scans the information about a cereal box, concludes it to have passed and drops it towards her already half-filled basket. "Well no. you might not be the oldest."

"Believe me I am not." He casually replies, tossing his spiky black head backwards. He stops by the tomato sauces, picks one and moves on. "Your stories are timeless actually. Just because it invariably has a cheesy happy ending doesn't mean that the more sophisticated adults are not cut to read it. Some people need the break and I am thinking that reading your fantasy about kids in virtual reality games and the moral lessons they learn about sacrificial dying and the intricate puzzle solving probably gives them it. You know, life isn't always about tragedy. We like to read something about the luckier ones for once… without them having sex somewhere along the story."

He laughs at his own joke. The sound is pleasant for she didn't expect it. He didn't seem like the laughing man to her at all. Hinata blushes and is momentarily grateful that he has his back turned from her. "So quit moping around there like I'm some sort of literary critic. I don't know much about books but I know for a fact that my nephew would be delighted to meet you someday. He has been dying for an autograph."

"How old is he?"

"Nine." He replies. "And yes, my otherwise worthless older brother does know how to spawn geniuses who can tell how to pick their own kind out of the trash we call the world's bookstore."

She only nods, too stunned of the unforeseen compliment to speak. He has quite… the twisted sense of humor.

"You should give yourself more credit." He says once more and for the first time in her life, she believes it when someone says that.

..

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This is the first ever moment that Sasuke finds himself thankful to have always, almost religiously watched the everyday routine wherein Kurenai tucks her son into bed and tells him of the wondrous stories "a friend of hers" wrote. At the time, it had merely been an impulsive pastime that kind of reminded him of the happier times where he could listen to the fantastical folklores of fire-breathing snakes and Susanoo and Kushinada-hime and not have a worry in the world whether Fugaku comes home drunk once again. Mikoto didn't need any books to source from. She was good at making up tall tales about a woman eating fruit to stop the wars as she was an expert on making people believe that she was just fine.

The truth is that, he has never really read any of Hinata's books before. He never had the time nor the sufficient interest into fantasy and as she said, how would he know it was her when she wrote under a false name? But thanks to his unerringly photographic memory, he can quote some important things that needs to be said when he is trying to be more than just a fan. At least, he sighs to himself. He knows of Sawada Hiroki. What the guy did in her fiction for his equally fictional "nephew" to like him, hell if he knew. For all he knows, Itachi would probably be too busy being his dumb shitty self to have to have sex, much less a son. But it seems best to keep appearances. Mikoto did have good impressions of men who liked children. Hinata should be no different right? She seems like the perfect motherly type.

He pauses. Did she ever have children?

She's been married for around five years already so it should be reasonable… right?

She doesn't ask further questions and thankfully after just a few words he isn't even sure about, he appears to have made himself quite smoothly to her good side. They are fast friends.

He knows from the beginning that she would like him.

Everyone does right?

She pays for everything she got—lasagna for dinner it seems and a few tampons here and there that she tried in vain to hide from his sharp eyes. He follows in line just behind her with stuff he probably didn't even need since Kabuto just did the stocking himself last week and he rarely ever cooks anyway. But he has the money so no harm spending a few hundred yen to waste just to get a glimpse of her in person. Meanwhile the teenage boy teller hands her the receipt with a flush as he appreciatively eyes Hinata up and down. All this while ostentatiously brushing fingers with her which Hinata doesn't seem to notice. Sasuke frowns, displeased.

Perhaps it's best that he wouldn't take her here with all these abominable horny adolescents for grocery shopping in the future. It wouldn't bode well for any of them to have her distracted with all the looks she seems to be getting just by gracing a place with her beautiful presence. These men… they would only hurt her. And he couldn't allow that.

She had had enough of Naruto as it is.

She smiles up at him, lingering at the side while the teller entertains him civilly, opens the door for her, keeps her on the safer side of the street and so they go home together.

Home, he muses is a rather fitting word to where they are going. Sharingan building is his home and it would be hers—only hers- soon. Soon. Soon. Soon.

..

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..

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A shocking mop of pink hair and a loud, commandingly authoritative voice is unfortunately not so hard to miss in their predominant world of dark-heads so the moment Sasuke opens the door for Hinata (as the doorman is once again too busy with another set of movers to do his job), she spots the effervescent divorce lawyer almost immediately. Leaning against the receptionist's desk and ferociously butting heads with the bespectacled redhead who doesn't seem very inclined to follow into Sakura's insistence to just go up the Thirteenth floor who reasons that "that's my friend and client living in there you bitch".

Sometimes when Sakura has someone getting into her frazzled nerves, she forgets that she is supposed to be a good lawyer who graduated top of her class. But in the courtroom, she is brilliant. Which is probably why she managed to secure her a divorce (sans an alimony which Hinata, with her income didn't even care about) despite the fact that in the eyes of law, everything should be settled through a few sessions of marriage counseling. Sakura just never liked Naruto and ironically, Hinata found herself grateful for that when push finally came to shove.

From the corner of her eye, she spies Sasuke wince at the assault of bitchfight noise. Hinata gives him an apologetic smile. He had asked whether she was enjoying her stay so far. She certainly does.

She taps Sakura's shoulder. "Sakura-chan…" she admonishes, casting the attorney a reproving look when the pinkette turns to greet her. Sakura glares at the fuming receptionist one last time before fully facing her client and… unsurprisingly, sizing the handsome man beside her up. Bedroom-eyed.

"I didn't expect you to visit this early." Hinata glances up the wall clock above the red-haired woman's head. 7:03. "If I did, I would have waited for you here and we wouldn't have to…"

"I was on my way to the offices when I remembered I have something to talk to you about." Her predatory eyes are still fixed on Sasuke. The poor man seems to be uncomfortable enough that he chooses to leave, but not before nodding at Hinata who grants him the permission he didn't even need to ask. She smiles as the man walks towards the elevator. The doors closed and Sakura pouts, disappointed. She continues. "But as it happens, some woman here doesn't even want me to step past the lobby and-"

"That's just standard procedure ma'am." The receptionist drones with a mocking snort, the left-handed compliment she put in her appellation for Sakura not at all inflected with any subtlety. "We, here in the Sharingan building would prefer that no outsiders would come in the upper floors without our tenant's permission and you and I both know that Hinata-san is out.." From this surprisingly enough, she becomes the receiving end of a hateful glare. Oh? "so no one is even there to give authority for me to let you in."

"Don't believe her. I didn't even see her pick up a damn phone or something…" Sakura tells her, as if Karin—Hinata reads in her nameplate, isn't there listening. "I'm telling you, she's pretty damn determined to kick me out. I didn't know that employees in here could be so much of a headache."

"Ano… Sakura-chan…" Hinata tries to interrupt. But to no avail.

"Pardon me Haruno-san…" A vein-popping aura emits from the meganneko. "But I'm sure we can do something about this."

"And oh, luckily for you I don't really care." Sakura dismisses. Karin seethes. Hinata flinches. "At least Hinata is here now and I don't need your damn say whether I am allowed to wade for a swim in your Sharingan pool or whatever. You prioritize your customer's decision, right hm?"

Hinata shots Karin a regretful look. The receptionist is just about to lose it.

"Ano…Sakura-chan… You want to talk to me about something hm?" she prompts at once before things get more out of hand. This seems to get Sakura into business as she ruefully shrugs and mouths her apology. Hinata isn't sure whether she means it.

"I prefer if we go to your rooms Hinata-chan. I really want to see for myself what this 'standard procedure' crap is all about. And, of course, this is really important too." She glares at Karin which is right away answered by the harsh gritting of teeth. Hinata makes a mental note to have Sakura be fetched whenever she was notified of her visits, if ever that is. "That way we can have some privacy we need."

Little does the all of them know how wrong she could be.

The Sharingan light focuses

…

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Sasuke doesn't like Sakura.

At sight, she is one of _them_. Abhorrent whores who think they have nothing better to do than to have men wrapped around their middle finger. Wearing skimpy suits in a superfluous attempt to deviate between the lines of the flirtatiously formal. High stilettos tapping on the pavement as if they owned the world, long, manicured nails that demanded attention and sly smiles that they thought are better than any makeup to obscure the destitution of manners and intellect they really suffer from. Sasuke doesn't like that kind. He never did, even as one night stands. And from the unerring first impression he got, Sakura apparently is not a very likeable person.

It doesn't help at all that the first thing she notices about him is that he's totally someone she would want to take home. A wink. Licking of the lips. Pursing for a kissy face. All of which Hinata probably didn't even notice. Suffocated, Sasuke left knowing that he still could watch Hinata any day, any time he wants. He understands suddenly why Karin is wary of her. The hussy can't stop gushing about nothing in particular during their ride in the elevators. How annoying Karin is. How beautiful the place is. How hot and totally "fuckable" the man "Hinata managed to snag" in the first day.

To which goody-two-shoes Hinata only responded that "Sasuke-san just happened to be around to help."

Despite his upset self, Sasuke couldn't help but smile in satisfaction. He certainly would be around more whenever she needs help.

When they are finally seated around the living room drinking the tea Hinata instantly prepared from the box of sachets she bought from the grocery store (something he recommended, thank you very much), the sliver of good opinion that Sasuke still hasn't relinquished (even after the woman's outspoken resolve to visit her friend frequently to see more of the "ridiculously attractive tenants") has now completely vanished with a puff. Sakura apparently is the fabled bearer of bad news. And for Sasuke whose motto is to kill the messenger, he is seriously considering the notion of encouraging Karin in banning the woman from the premises in the near future.

Hinata's complexion is an unhealthy pallor and her body a series of trembling fingers and convulsing knees when she concluded the onesided conversation with a question: "Whose side are you really in Sakura-chan?" And waited until the pink-haired aberrance gain the sense to get herself out of her home.

Sakura left but not without warning her that this might not be the end.

Sasuke mulls over what was said.

"Naruto wants to reconcile."

"I really think you should reconsider this Hinata-chan."

"He's going to file an appeal in the courts soon and I don't think I can contend as to what he has to say."

"I think Naruto loves you."

"The stalker you filed a restraining order to? He died in a car accident last night. Hey Hinata, don't you think that's great news."

"He was a harmless man until he sent you those notes, wasn't he? Well, it's true that he has been in love with you since you started working in the publishing firm but he shouldn't have gone in those extremities."

"Naruto is relieved that you're finally safe now."

"He is worried about you, you know."

"Naruto wants to talk to you."

"Maybe you should give him a chance."

"You were denying him that time. Yes, he did cheat at you once. But he might not do it again. He certainly seems like he regrets it."

"Yes, we did meet up once. And I retract my opinion now. I think he's a nice guy. He deserves a chance."

"He loves you Hinata."

"He loves you."

"He loves you."

"He loves you."

"He loves—"

And this was when Hinata snapped.

Sakura doesn't understand. And Hinata doesn't tell. But Sasuke can see it well—doesn't he have eyes everywhere? Those white orbs of hers… they are like Mikoto's. They could smile but they are empty. Whoever this Naruto is and claims to be has hurt her severely as Fugaku did when the booze he took became one too many. Is this what the hussy calls love? Obviously, she is ignorant. And with how Hinata reacted, she clearly doesn't own the whim of changing that anytime soon.

Later that night, Sasuke discovers something.

Hinata is brushing her teeth that night when the shakes hit. She wretches on the lavatory, suddenly losing the feeling in her legs as she crumples down in a miserable heap on the wet, tiled floor. Both hands grip her head, gritted teeth stifling what must be a deafening scream of agony. She is shaking. She is sobbing. Her breathes come into harsh pants, her hair tousled into disarray. The white scar shows and for a moment as Hinata desperately keeps her pained gaze on the mirrors, there is a glint of something sinister in her wide, startled eyes. Nine floors up, Sasuke glares at her image. She is being weak. He hates that.

For an hour, she stayed prone and spread like that on the bathroom floor. For an hour, Hinata sobs. For an hour, she suffers and she doesn't even try to call anyone.

Sasuke would have but she probably wouldn't like that.

Instead he presses a few keys on the console, zooms in on her feverish frame and lets his dark eyes wander over the body he longed so much to put in rest now that he realizes how much in trouble she really is. "You've been keeping secrets Hinata." He taps the screen slowly and then starts to caress, fingertips rubbing on the surface whilst wondering how smooth her hair would feel on his hands. "That's not good. Not good at all."

In her delirium, he hears something.

Who would have known that the sweet, innocent Hyuuga Hinata herself of the goody, goody Sawada Hiroki series could hide some incriminating skeletons in the closet?

Maybe it's not Naruto who is the problem after all.

"I don't like that." He mutters to himself, fists clenched. "I don't like that at all."

He gets himself a cigarette, forgetting to promise himself this time around that this would be the last. Tendrils of smoke languidly fly as he exhales. The Pall Malls suddenly appreciated when in the past he preferred Marlboros. It momentarily blurs his sight but he knows enough not to panic any longer. His lips as it lets the cancer stick dangle, is set into a grim scowl.

But seconds barely pass by and he is already smiling appreciatively. He fingers his own scar, tips circling around the wound many a doctor tried to look through and only ending up seeing none. They say that the pain is but his imagination. They infer that he is just overly traumatized. They tell him that he seeks too much attention that it already sounds crazy. But they just don't understand. Just like nobody but him understands Hinata.

He grins and it is twisted. He blows off smoke and he imagines Hinata sharing the same poison as him while taking everything his mouth would give. He feels himself harden. Maybe it'd be nice if she decides to take a shower soon. "Maybe we really are kindred souls after all, eh Hinata?"

And just like that, the glove falls.

(TBC)

**Just in case anybody wonders what the last line is all about, it's hinting that Sasuke accepts a challenge. Whether it's from Naruto, from Sakura or from Hinata herself, we are left to guess. At this point, Sasuke just nurses a crush. I think it's pretty clear that he's trying to be nice. But this, unfortunately for us fluff lovers would change drastically in Phase Two: Anxiety, which will begin next chapter. Their past still remains unclear but we will get to that once it's necessary. :D And oh, I love Naruto so he will be appearing soon. I prefer him omniprescient for now XD**

**Seven volleyball games. That pretty much sums up why this chapter is not posted on Tuesday as promised. But that's better than nothing eh? I mean my arms aches so much I can hardly proofread this properly.**

**Not much reviews but really astounding traffic. 37 faves and 71 follows? Wow. Just wow. And I hope I get to hear from some silent readers in there as well. Please tell me if you have some questions and problems about the plot. I don't claim to be perfect but I strive to be. I write what I want to read after all and perhaps you won't enjoy this as much as I do, but it's nice to hear that I am being read. **

**Please review and tell me what you think. **

**Next chap: Anxiety phase featuring jealousy, desperation and violent reactions. Let's see how Sasuke would react once he watches Hinata ****_in action, _****if you guys get what I mean. **

**Edit: Special thanks to MyLady. Without her guidance, I would have completely missed the mistakes I made in this chapter. I was severely misinformed (because I thought I could only allude to Dickens sending his first works on a magazine for free and not his style of writing). But I agree so I just decided to change into one of the Bronte sisters. Do correct me if I am wrong though. As for the tumor, well I assumed that Hinata would be thirteen around the nineties (this is set in late 2000s) so I guess the health facilities would be pretty primitive still? But that's just probably the Third World Filipino in me speaking. Thankees anyhow.**

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	5. Anxiety: Discrepancies

_…_

_Phase Two_

_._

_Anxiety_

.

_(1) The need to be in constant contact with a love interest via phone, email, social-networking or in person._

…

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05

.

The tremulous seizures went as soon as it came. When Hinata regained consciousness, she found herself gracelessly slumped on the side of the bathtub, her back haphazardly sprawled on the wall below the sink. The Sharingan Light still hadn't turned itself off and from the mental clock she has established as she glanced at the lights the miniature window allowed to pass through, it still wasn't past dawn. Glass shards were everywhere, Coca Cola freebie cup a mere set of smithereens now on the tiled floor. Her purple, dango daikazoku toothbrush was nowhere to be seen but there was a suspicious wound on her right palm that reminded her of the state of her old Berol pencils back then. She would find it later at the farthermost corner of the bathroom, hastily broken into half and obviously residually unusable, The Sharingan Light was as immaculate as ever and for a short moment, she marveled at the fact that it didn't irritate her eyes, despite the abruptness of the episode.

The brightness of the light, it seemed had just been _perfect_ when she came back into wakefulness.

The momentary thought was but a fleeting inference though as the whys of this new development in her welfare became a more imminent concern. She hadn't had such crippling a seizure in years, nor did she experience any hyperventilation like this that should be a common occurrence whenever she was being drilled into something stressful. It happened a lot when she was younger, a mouse of a girl hiding behind the big men she was fortunate enough to have as childhood friends and a frail case who carried paper bags all around. Since the operation, she was just relatively normal and she went on with life as anyone should. For a while. The only discrepancy was that she married all too soon as she got out of highschool but when you were madly in love, two months pregnant and had a man who was willing to become your husband and fight for it, you were bound to be blameless.

Becoming successful enough made her that at least.

That talk with Sakura though… and her falsely jovial disposition that made breaking the news about the dead stalker, the pleading husband and ultimately, the betrayal she felt all at once at the light of this sudden change of heart all the more depressing. That certainly meant something to her, even though her mind is yet to fully process it. Sakura has been keeping in touch with Naruto. What does that mean? They never got along, despite the man's rather obvious efforts of being friendly. What changed now, all of a sudden? Especially since Sakura herself believed that there had been criminal grounds for Hinata's adamancy to get a divorce. She should have been more wary of him! Domestic violence, as she had filed is a big deal already. Of course, she had not been completely privy of the details. And their more presumptuous assumptions aren't all true. But Sakura never did need it. The woman was determined. She wanted to give Hinata her divorce papers and alimony right. And there she has it.

So why has she turned sides now?

Does she know?

Does she?

The reasons…

Of course, Hinata had not been completely honest with the lawyer either. But who is ever really? An attorney hears what they need to hear. And that is that. Sakura doesn't need to hear that in the span of six years, she had had several miscarriages already, that Naruto didn't like that—hated it even- and that the last time Hinata felt like making love was before her first failure as the broodmare that Naruto probably only saw her as suitable as. When she didn't feel as miserable as to who she was as before having a violent attack inside her messed up head and because she couldn't even swat a fly, her body only chose to flush out the baby that was supposedly killing her in the meantime. She was never meant to be a mother. And that hurt.

The doctors had stated glumly that her successfully conceiving and bearing a child would be a miracle that would likely result only to her own demise. Naruto knows this well and yet like the man who had that complex of proving everyone in his vicinity wrong, he still tried. He had been a good husband… a good provider… until each night they shared the bed, had their bodies feasted on by the other and inevitably had her husband hope in the futility that he would finally be successful in planting a more resilient seed in her, ended only in her feeling like he didn't care one way or another whether she would die as long as he gets his way.

It was a mindless gamble and hell if that didn't hurt like hell.

Morning comes and the Sun God has finally peeked out from the darkened heavens. Yellow dominating over purple once again and it strikes her grimly that this is probably what Naruto wants to happen once again. Purple never gets the peaceful solitude she deserves in order to shine over the wide expanse of the world. She always has to have something that overshadows her. At night, there is the sinister black that lurks to consume her completely, devouring her essence into oblivion, dominating her and this is probably what she has herself succumbed into now, in her doomed loneliness. She always imagines that in her sad world of delusions and unsolved problems, the moon is as red as the blood of every child her weakness killed and the light it casted as grotesque as her colorless vision every single time she felt vaguely "sick" and fainted like she always did when she still had that tumor. Staring listlessly at the enigmatic Sharingan orb up the ceilings, she gravely concluded that in her world, the moon is indeed as crimson as it could be; plagued only with endless dreams of what-ifs that is all but an untrue illusion.

That same day after freshening herself up and fixing some five cups of coffee that barely kept her eyes open whilst taking a long shower, Hinata comes down the front once again to inquire at the receptionist's desk as is "standard procedure". Karin is civilly cool and almost unpleasantly dismissive as she answers her questions, choosing to sulkily check her nails instead of facing Hinata directly and looking her in the eye as is polite. She even catches a glare and an emanating killer's intent from time to time in their short encounter. Which is literally about a minute of her asking a room number and the receptionist reluctantly punching a specific intercom to ask permission—for "security measures". But Hinata, as enervated as she felt that day, chooses not to ponder about the use of the suggestion box and her actual ability to fire this impudent woman for sweet revenge with just a well-phrased anonymous letter. Turns out that Kurenai only lived two floors below and as soon as her former nurse gave the go, Hinata turns back again to the elevators, not once looking back.

Kurenai is too old to grow and too young to age so Hinata is not surprised when the wooden doors that looked like metal opened and she is greeted with a tingling, pleasant sense of nostalgia and familiarity. The stunningly, still beautiful woman at forty smiles as she bids for her to enter, taking a few steps back and revealing from behind her an equally beautiful child of six and a unit that in basic outline, looked nothing like her own but no less exquisite. The parlor is at the left, the bedroom at the right and the toilet is immediately seen whereas hers is more obscured (and thus less accessible) within the confines of her bedroom. The little Chibi, meanwhile is scrutinizing her with wide, curious red eyes that might have made a teenage Hinata squeal once upon a time. It almost did but she is too tired for such puerility. Kneeling down, she feels for the child's rosy cheeks, pinches it and croons on how cute he is. The boy giggles.

Kurenai guides her to the couches, offers her beverages, pouts at her courteous (too courteous) rejection and asks how she was. "Been good." Hinata answers automatically and without much thinking. The lie comes smoothly because by today's standards even the darkest secrets are considered white when it doesn't concern anyone else but yourself. "I'm glad we're neighbors." That much is true.

"No seizures lately?" Kurenai questions. She always did, whenever they crossed paths. Two years of taking care of her bedridden form had forged bonds between them as strong as that of Hephaestus's creation. Last time they saw each other at the malls when she was there for a book-signing activity two months ago, the nurse had asked that too. Whenever Hinata dismissed that—which she always did—they move on into more bearable areas of conversation with Kurenai probably deep into the erroneous idea that if something should be wrong about Hinata, it was going to be about a resurfacing tumor.

Damn wrong.

"None." She lies again with a nonchalant shrug. Again, it doesn't require much effort. "Naruto-kun and I have divorced." That is a truth that is bound to come out anyway. Wasting time in avoidance of addressing it would be but futile. She probably already knew. Sakura had been in touch with Kiba. And the dog-lover isn't exactly the best keeper of secrets. She sighs. It is a heavy one.

Kurenai makes a sympathetic but rather noncommittal grunt. Hinata realizes that her nurse didn't expect she would choose to freely talk about it. She remembers that Kurenai was also never one to pry, preferring that people tell it when they're ready because to her, reticence is as much as a virtue as honesty. "Really? Since when?" she prompts disinterestingly, eyebrows partially raised.

"It was approved last month." She states with another deep sigh. "We were already quite… estranged long before that."

"That's just understandable." The woman replies, one hand now squeezing her knee in a motherly comforting gesture that only makes her flinch. It bruised from her fall the other night "You were young when you both got stuck into wedlock. Remember me and Obito? We were young and probably stupid. But look at Asuma and I now. We're as happy as we could get."

"I can see that." Hinata murmurs, eyeing the little guy that is both the facsimile of her nurse and her father's business partner. Saratobi and Yuuhi genes make great, beautiful babies.

Kurenai nods. "I won't advise you to get into another relationship actually. Maybe you and Naruto still have the chance. If I remember correctly, he's the nice guy Kiba aspired to be and failed. But you have the reasons and I guess Naruto didn't like it and it turned out for the worse?"

"You know that I couldn't conceive?"

"I would have warned you that in my patients, it does happen." The admission is grim, lonely. Kurenai sounds like she regrets it. "But you were so happy when you got pregnant the first time that I didn't want to crush your expectations with a theory that is yet to be proven. And Naruto. He really seemed like he loved you at the time."

There comes silence. Kurenai finds herself suddenly drawn to the uncharacteristic scowl that is slowly forming in her former ward's face.

Hinata's voice is cold, unfeeling when she drawls this in answer. "Well, he did." She confirms and there is regret too in her voice. "As a matter of fact, I was told that he still does" There is ice now as she responds, exhaling another deep, exasperated breath. She still loves him. Obviously. She did. For so long. "And he probably wouldn't give up just yet."

And somehow, she makes it sound like Naruto not giving up on her is not at all a welcome thought.

"You're looking pale." Kurenai quickly decides to change the subject. Skillfully. "Are you certain that you are alright, Hinata-chan? I don't think I've seen you check yourself up in the clinics for a while. It's compulsory, should you have forgotten."

She smiles. But it is false, cracking. A façade. "Oh no I haven't." She shrugs it off, her dismissive attitude largely apparent. But she chooses to ignore that. "Just haven't been getting enough sleep that's all."

"You know I won't be recommending or giving you any sleeping pill, right?"

"Ano… No… I am not even interested in painkillers." She chuckles. She is aware it sounds rather hollow but then again, Kurenai is never one to pry. "But really, I'm fine. I just need to er, overcome this… writer's block that's all."

"Oh?" Her nurse is surprised. "You're writing again? No wonder you can't sleep! You never do when you have a tale to be told in your sleeves. You remember the time you are writing.. umm, what it is called… fanfiction? You never got paid but you are as zealous as ever. What about now when you actually earn from it?"

"Passion dims when it's turned into a livelihood." She reiterates, shoulders hunched in contemplation of her paraphrase. "Writing comes harder to me now because I have more to think about than the plot and keeping my characters in check. Agents can be a pain."

"And you have the critics too."

"That too." She agrees, recalling the disaster she has had in the author forums after the last book. She never did want to write it but with the deadlines, even the worst of the writer's block could be overcome. Barely. "And the overly demanding publishers."

They share a hearty laugh.

"My little one misses Hiroki very much." Kurenai half-informs, half-reminds her. "So you're writing huh… I wonder what it's going to be about. The chibi wants your hero in the Viking by the way. Just an idea. He has taken into speaking with a French Accent these days. Hm."

Hinata shakes her head. "Oh. But I'm not writing a children's book this time around."

There is a small gasp. Kurenai appears unsure whether to be surprised or disappointed with the news. "You aren't?"

"Uh.. No… " She affirms, with creased brows. Her lips curl. A teeth peeks from the gap as she bites it nervously. "I have the plot simmering now and it's mine for the taking."

"What genre exactly? Human interest?"

"Crime."

Kurenai scoffs. She couldn't help it. Crime and Hinata just doesn't belong to a single sentence. Isn't this the reason her father deemed her unworthy anyway of his wont to have any children of his belong to the constitutional business? Hinata can barely memorize the crooks and crannies of their laws and ordinances, much less use it as a plot device. If that is what her "Crime Genre" encompasses.

"What do you intend to call it then?" Kurenai asks because she has to. "And are you still going to use… the penname?"

"It's going to be mine. Mine alone. Under my real name I mean. About the time I find myself, I guess."

"And?"

"I'm going to call it 'Eye of The Moon'."

The Sharingan Light is rapt in attention.

..

It's already three full days of watching Hinata sit on her desk, type nonstop, doodle a bit with some pencils and write nonstop again in a pace that would have let her finish writing Paradise Lost in under twenty minutes. The sight would have been excruciatingly boring had Hinata not looked so beautiful when totally absorbed in concentration. Sasuke had adored watching Mikoto knit their sweaters and fingerless gloves during the coldest of winters and feeling this same warm sensation as he eyes Hinata's forehead creased in thinking, he mulls out that this is probably the reason why.

It is the hectic weekdays so there's not much to watch except blokes getting ready for work (most are particularly amusing when they think they are safe in their bathrooms) and the occasional arguments that doesn't last long. Even Orochimaru is out of town. Shikaku is on some business trip, Yoshino busy in her book club and Ino having enough friends over to be blissfully preoccupied. The younger tenants are on university. The older ones are just watching Television and being gross with their mushy faces and well, who thinks that's fun? Those three days in the building have been too slow and too monotonous for his taste. He even wishes there'd be some sort of emergency in the sprinklers already so he can at least coax Hinata out her lore for a while. Activating the fire alarm is just a button away but that's just for desperate people he definitely is not. So in the meantime, he finds himself logging in the internet once again to see what might get the world fired up while he's busy with Hinata. One news item, in particular catches his interest.

He sips a bit of his whiskey and leans in on his chair.

Hidan, 29. Was filed a restraining order seven months ago by renowned authoress Hyuuga Hinata, the mind and the face behind the popular young adult fiction, Sawada Hiroki series. Was several times convicted of indiscriminate stalking. Took pictures of his at-the-time, workmate. And sent death threats just recently. Died of a car accident after getting released from his five month probation. The brakes didn't work and off he flew down the cliff. The car exploded and the notorious stalker was left with nothing but an unrecognizable human blob that colleagues of the authoress would later remark that was just "poetic justice".

Sasuke wonders whether what Mikoto said about some Just and Unprejudiced God is true somehow. This is exactly how he himself, would have taken care of that bastard. How dare he? Sending Hinata death threats! Taking pictures! It's unimaginable! What if he sold those delicious photos of her rubbing herself in the bath? What if others saw what he did as well? Or worse what if he post those in the internet? Imagining how scandalous that would be is one without effort. Sasuke thinks that he should thank whatever fortune that terminated the pest that is bothering Hinata enough for her to initiate a restraining order for good.

If Sakura was right about one thing, it is that Hidan being killed is indeed, good news.

It is a noticeably cloudy Tuesday morning—whereas Yahiko from the third floor morosely grumbles about the high chances of rain-when Hinata finally emerges from her relentless writing, looking haggard but hugely satisfied nevertheless. There is awe in her eyes as she swiftly scrolled down her filled-to-the-brim word processor, each movement of the eye cracking a happy smile on her dimpled face. She mouths words from time to time, types a bit of a correction and then scrolls down again in methodical perusing. She looks happier than when she had that attack in her bathroom last week.

From what he can see when he zooms in, Hinata has managed to type up a little over a hundred thousand words in the span of three days worth of writing eighteen hours a day with little to no breaks. That is crazy writing, something he probably would have thought as derisively peculiar had he heard from another person. But if Eye of The Moon made Hinata's face light up as much as this, then why not? Anyone has a right to have a weird hobby or two. He certainly has a share of his. For one, he likes watching reality shows and if he has enough experience of how shallow the world can be when it comes to intellectuals like him, Hinata herself probably wouldn't appreciate that.

But he would make her.

After showering and cleaning herself up in remarkable record time (which in all honesty, he is disappointed with since he barely have time to take his clothes off before she rushed out again to get over-dressed), she logs in her laptop and glances at the clock with visible enough anticipation. She rubs her hands together, sexily licks her lips and presses a few buttons. For a moment, he sees her eyes widen with glee and he presumes with a smirk that she has just found out why the Sharingan Building is particularly popular among freelance writers and the younger tenants. In sync with her lightning-fast manipulation in the keys, he also discretely links himself to the exact feed she has in her own computer to see what she is up to and as expected the process only takes less than a second. The internet in the Sharingan is noteworthy. Gmail and Skype display itself in his screen, with Hinata obviously not bothering to take time and put her face on the avatar. Letters slowly appear in his view as Hinata composes her message nine floors down. Back in Skype she clicks a name and she doesn't have to wait.

Tsunade.

A blonde woman's face instantly appears on the screen. She doesn't seem like she expected Hinata to call, much less strike a video link with her. "Hinata?" Her tone is of clear confusion, lipsticked mouth shamelessly agape in dubious shock. "You called."

"Tsunade-san." Hinata's smile is so huge that he finds himself smiling as well. "I have a manuscript for a new book." She says, going straight to the point and without unnecessary preamble. "A hundred thousand words and few idiosyncrasies here and there but the plot is pretty much intact. Of course that's how I write. You know I can always extend it anytime you give your say about the plot."

"So Sawada Hiroki is on it again eh…" The woman drawls, her shoulders hunched now that she finally let out a sigh. A long suffering one, one might add. "I'm glad you didn't take the criticisms about the last one to heart. I agree it wasn't the best out of the bunch but it's a good enough addition so I was really worried about this hiatus of yours. Hinata, it's been a year. And I have a bajillion of fanmails that practically threatens you to write again. I tell you they aren't as fun to read as the ones that sing your praises." A chuckle. From the startled widening of Hinata's pale eyes, she looks just amazed that the reception didn't make it sound like freed crickets. "So what is it going to be about?"

"Ano… I am not going to write as Kunoichi again." She tells the woman firmly. The excitement is yet to disperse. Hinata looks like a giddy child who only wants to tell a story and for her listeners to revel in it. Despite himself, Sasuke smiles. Dotingly. "In fact, I don't think I'd be writing about Hiroki-kun anytime soon." She continues.

A pause.

A tick appears on the Tsunade woman's forehead. Suddenly, she looks so irritable that Sasuke realizes that the woman must be over in her fifties already. "You aren't kidding me about me this, aren't you? Right, Hinata?"

"I know that it isn't ano…" The hesitation is back with a vengeance. Hinata fidgets by crossing and uncrossing her fingers. "… advisable for me to come out so suddenly with an altogether new style after the disastrous reviews I received from the critics in the last book—"

"They aren't that bad."

"I know. But…" She sighs mightily, shoulders sagging. "I just need to find myself, okay?"

The woman scoffs. "Find yourself? Is this another writer's baloney, Hinata? And here I thought you are too lackadaisical for that."

"I just got sick of writing about people who receive happy endings." She answers and this time, there is conviction in her tone that clearly freezes Tsunade from her rant. She must be her agent. And Hinata must have been quite used at this already if she can effectively divert her attention from the matter at hand without digressing entirely. "And once in a while, I think I am entitled with my dose of tragedy. It's how life really is. I think you are very much aware of that, Tsunade-san. Good things just don't last. And I also think I know how to write about it. "

Tsunade falls silent. Sasuke can tell that Hinata has hit the mark. She got her interested.

"So…" The blonde from who-knows-where exhales with a resigned air, the sigh coming off his speakers like a hiss instead. "Will I be seeing a piece of the fifteen-year old who won the Anbu Contest against some more experienced writers this time around? I'd like It if someone other than teenagers actually believe what they read in the author information section."

"Thirteen. I was thirteen." She corrects with considerable good-humor. "But yes you would."

"So what is it going to be about?" Tsunade repeats the same question Kurenai has asked days ago, looking sufficiently dollar-eyed. "Romance ala Romeo and Juliet, I hope?"

Hinata… snorts? "If so, that's going to be unrealistic." An eyeroll. So she really snorted.

"So hmm…? What then? What's realistic in this world?" The agent makes a guffawing sound as she presents her guess. "Don't tell me…"

"Hai. I think I might need to interview some of the cops about this soon. The plot is a wee bit complicated but I think I like it so far." Coming from her, that's weird. Especially after deprecating manner she had at the grocery store. She must be really confident in this one. "It's about a woman killing her shadow." She pauses for intent and for the first time, Sasuke sees a malicious glint in her pale orbs. "She doesn't like being watched. She doesn't like being worshipped. And when you think about it, I'd like to say she doesn't like being loved."

And as if he just heard his life story being narrated in the loudspeakers, Sasuke drops his glass.

..

.

Kiba is garbed in a significantly different-looking uniform than from a week ago when he comes buzzing at her from the front door of her unit, as promised when things with him would get lighter. She hasn't seen him since the first day and from what she can note, he looks a bit miffed and exhausted which in itself has been a cause of alarm for the observant Shino back when they are children. Kiba is just never tired. Warmly-dressed for a business meeting with her agent, Tsunade in person, Hinata resolves as she sees Kiba's lopsided grin but with the contrastingly heavy shoulders lean himself on her doorframe as though he bore the weight of the world, that Tsunade and the publication of Eye of The Moon can definitely wait. Akamaru is not around this time. Kiba tells her that the big man is in the vet when she perfunctorily asked.

"You're going out?" Kiba observes, watching her prepare the tea in the kitchen because at such a short notice, this is the only thing she can offer. "What, wrong timing again. Damn"

Informing him that she still has a book to finalize, she sees this as a chance for a second opinion. After all, she says she needs to interview a cop. Kiba is one. "You can always come back later tonight though." She suggests, eyebrows cocked and feeling sorry that she is busy as a bee now that he isn't. "Call Shino-kun too. I'm sure you have wine. And I have some popcorn and lots of movies. It'd be fun to recount the old days."

"When we're still together?" he prompts back in rhetoric, smirking. "Eight years ago, Shino would always have been available. That's invariable since he doesn't have anyone else besides us."

"Kiba-kun. That's rude."

He blatantly ignores the remonstrance, as per usual. Teenage Kiba would have even stuck his tongue out. "But the Shino today is a busy man. I hardly can get hold of him these days unless I really tried which my own busy schedule more often than not, didn't allow. I tried calling him last week to inform him that you are finally within reach and that yeah, we're neighbors but as it happens, his assistant told me that he's currently in Africa and might not be back until next month."

"Oh!"

"Nice to know that the three of us actually went somewhere, eh?" he teases.

"It is." she agrees, putting the finished tea now near him. She watches in amusement as Kiba wrinkles his nose in poorly-hidden disgust. He is never the tea person. "What's with the new uniform by the way? It's… atrocious." She winces to herself. It is orange. "And why don't I see the Sherlock Holmes badge you are so proud of the other day? You're in CID aren't you? "

"Not anymore." He sulks. Hinata raises a brow in question. He shrugs. "I got demoted four days ago. Got in trouble after insisting I take custody of a suspect I only have gut instincts as grounds for a nonexistent arrest warrant. Hehe. You remember the Jack-The-Ripper-Wannabe case? Well, I'm officially out of it. Not that I regret much. I certainly didn't enjoy idling around inquests where they show those photos of butchered women and hanging out with criminal profilers who think the guy we want to nail has AIDS and he thinks this is all but sweet revenge. Tch. So now, no more serial killer fun for me. I'm stuck at the Traffic Investigation Unit these days, looking at car wrecks and bringing them to the dump."

"At least that's better than traffic enforcement." Hinata points out. "Giving tickets and aiding pedestrians under the harsh sunlight isn't the best thing you can ask for after that impetuousness from your part."

Kiba shudders. "Indeed." Hinata pushes the cup of tea towards him. He sips a bit before almost exaggeratedly puking. She pouts. "But Hinata…" he begins while ostentatiously shoving the cup away as far as is politely possible. His method of distraction, she might have thought. But his tone is serious enough and merits an attention that is equally mindful. "… I have to ask this. Hmm… We have this guy who just ran himself to the railings and went flying on a cliff so suddenly even the few witnesses we have can't believe it happened, if we don't have CCTV on the roads that is. We don't know as of yet if he's DUI or just plain negligent nuts who forgot he has to get his brakes checked up once in a while. For all we know, it could be foul play. But the car has blown itself into bits that the forensics barely have scraps to put under a microscope. That's my first day, you know. Sweet, isn't it?"

"I heard about it." She finds no sense in lying. "In fact, I know the guy."

"The car is said to be registered to a bloke named Hidan." He resumes, all business as he fishes a notepad. Reads some notes. Recites it verbatim. "And through the CCTV and the social records, we know he's really the one driving. Twenty-nine and worked as a utility man in the same firm who published the first edition of your books. He's been serving a total of five-month probation because of a misbehavior complaint against him. It isn't entirely criminal since he hasn't done anything yet to totally damage the complainant yet. Just stalking and a few probably empty threats. But nevertheless, we have the court issuing a restraining order effective once you caught him within a hundred meters of your vicinity and sent you any more of those letters or publicize pictures in compromising situations he said in his letters that he took. I assume I got that right, eh Hinata?"

"Yes." She confirms, mood dampened. "You got all of them right."

"Who filed the complaint anyway?"

"Sakura" she states, forlornly.

"I should have known." Kiba drones, rolling his eyes. "that I wouldn't want to face that woman in court. Even Naruto didn't stand the chance and we know how tenacious he could be. The guy certainly didn't stop at Hyuuga Hiashi's scary glare just to take you away from m—us. I heard he lost in the divorce and he isn't really happy about it. Can't say I'm not glad though. I know things between you would end up like this. I was just waiting."

Hinata frowns, thoroughly offended. Her good humor is forever irretrievable judging by the sickly pallor in her face. "That's pretty inconsiderate of you to say, Kiba-kun. I know that Naruto-kun and I aren't the most ideal couple in the world but stating that you saw it coming and that I didn't is just downright the wrong thing to say."

He raises both of his arms, smiling tightly in apology he probably doesn't mean but could not go without. "I'm glad about a lot of other people's misfortunes actually. I think they make way for a much better tomorrow. Think of a house incinerated so that it's easier for you to renovate it. That's how I see it." He leans closer, putting his mammoth hands over the countertop until their noses are but inches apart. "Did you know that Hidan was en route to this direction already before he died and that he's a member of a notorious gang in Konoha downtown? After being jailed, he probably would seek vengeance. I was worried when I heard of it. So I don't even care if it's foul play. I'm glad that he died."

Hidan had told her that he loved her, in his own twisted way of dried flowers and allusions to beautiful sacrificial maidens.

"Naruto loves you." Were Sakura's words.

"Hinata… dammit. You know I love you." Were the last words she heard in his phone call before she threw that away and ruminated in the silence of her grief.

"Your father loves you." Her mother would console her after he just demeaned her amongst people. "I love you." But she left a tad too early.

"We love you." Everyone had conspired to say just to make her feel better but they hardly ever understand.

If this is what love feels like… If this is what love feels like… If this is what love feels like… Then… Then… Then…

She doesn't want any of it.

"Hinata. I love you." Kiba mutters. She hasn't noticed that he already has his large, calloused hands clasped around her own. She resists the urge to pull away. But even if she tried, she can't. She's feeling weak. She's feeling… "I always have. And I want to be given a second chance with you. When you left, all I felt is sheer anguish and that probably confirms it. I love you. I really do."

She feels like she's going to die.

"I love you Hinata." And then he leans closer. And closer. And closer. Both know exactly what would happen now.

So she panics.

The world suddenly swims into colors. Kiba calling her name desperately goes unheard. And there is darkness.

The last thing she sees is the Sharingan Eye—no, Light looking disapprovingly and dangerously down at her.

…

.

When ten minutes later, Kiba finally got the sense that Hinata wouldn't budge and that as the good friend who claimed he loves her and almost kissed her and got her into this troublesome situation in the first place, he has to take her to the nearest hospital immediately; he finds that a paramedic van is already parked around the front doors. A dark-haired Greek God epitome of a man stands by the dark doors and instructs him to place Hinata by the stretcher because if they don't take her to the hospital soon enough, it might be too late for second chances. Kiba doesn't take the time to ponder about the man's perceptive and on-point words. He's too busy fretting. Please God, don't let it be indeed… too late.

He doesn't stop to wonder about the convenience of having a paramedic waiting just when you need it. In real life, that never happens. They always are too late. But he is too thankful to see between the lines. And Sasuke knows from three years of _knowing him_ that Kiba isn't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed.

"I suggest that you not come aboard with us" The man tells him as he skillfully straightens Hinata's posture on the makeshift bed. A medic rushes inside, takes her blood pressure and does everything to stabilize her condition. Hinata is already wheezing painfully and the tremors she emanates shakes the stretcher to an eerie creaking. Kiba himself trembles in sheer apprehension and fear but the dark, mysterious man remains unfazed. He only proceeds calmly. "Please just follow us at the Chidori Medical Center. I think we prefer Hinata to have all the space she needs in order for us to save her."

Kiba doesn't dare wonder why the man knows Hinata's name. Or the fact that the way he says it sounds so casual. He is too busy grumbling in his mind about how his car is still parked two floors underground. And that damn, he doesn't even have an ounce of an idea where Chidori Medical Center is. He has heard of it, sure. They are quite the household name. But he's a relatively healthy cop and if he has to be honest, the closest he has gotten into getting along with one in medico practice, it was with a pathologist.

The man is apparently a quite an adept mind-reader. "There's the GPS." He remarks coolly, turning his back with an elaborate shrug. One foot is already poised up the van's steps. "And it's a big building. A child won't miss it."

The doors close and the van speeds away with a barely audible hiss, leaving a gust of ominous air on its wake. It slaps Kiba on the face.

"Got that." He mumbles to no one in particular and runs quickly towards the basement parking lot.

Meanwhile, Sasuke smiles in satisfaction as the doctors cart Hinata away towards the emergency room, the buzz of activity lulling his alert senses into serenity because he knows and he is sure that these people would save her. Because that is their job and he pays them generously for it.

He is just on time too.

And he owns the hospital as well.

He sure is going to be there when she wakes up to thank him.

He is going to be there.

And no one else will be.

Love would find a way.

…

.

**AN: A chapter that was planned but turned out rather weird nevertheless. I've been busy with my varsity volleyball last week and as I did hit my head in last Saturday's game, you probably are seeing the repercussions. A lot of revelations in this chapter and yes, each of them would play a large part in the culmination of the SasuHina obsession. How would Sasuke win her over? How would Hinata react? I would have included the "action" in here but realized that it would get too long and well, we want an average length. Hmmm...**

**So the anxiety starts. Not promising much because things might get too suspenseful for me to handle and I might die out of coma of brainblast. Revive me with reviews guys because seriously the traffic is being ridiculous. That's the most I got in this site. Like ever. **

**ObitoxKurenai is just a crack pairing that makes me think of NaruHina sometimes. HidanxHinata is well... I absolutely love Hidan and we need the stalker in here for us to ask ourselves: why in the world is everyone obsessed with Hinata? She's cursed! I tell you!**

**Special thanks to the wonderful MyLady for her very insightful reviews and criticisms. They give me lots of ideas and I never know how nice it feels to stand corrected. XD. I am wondering whether I should insert a filler of sorts just to have a break with the mystery. But Tch to hell with it... I love Naruto so we are going to see him soon...**

**Review. :D**


	6. Anxiety: Surprises

…

06

.

.

What surprises her once she painfully regains back her consciousness is the full sight of the Sharingan Light blinking down at her, the immediate crimson moon in her dark, dark world. It still looks disapprovingly down at her, stern and cold eyes furrowed with disappointment, something that is very out of place from the face she so dearly trusted. Telling her how she is weak and worthless and that he doesn't care one way or another whether she dies—

Hinata, with a start slaps herself.

Breathe, she tells herself as she tries in vain to stifle the palpitates that shakes her inside. Now is not the time for that. Breathe, Hinata.

Red orbs with its black dots rhythmically rotating around in monochrome, the Art Deco disk glows in abundance fluorescence like it did the first time she came from the first of her spells. She knows, even before she mustered enough will to slink away from lethargy to pry her eyes open that she is nowhere near her unit now. She has been in and out of enough hospitals to recognize it with literally both eyes closed. The smell of antiseptics. The sounds of busy people buzzing around like bees in a hive. The steady beep of the machines that would be thrown into panic once her body decides that it is time.

Staring in wonder at the trademark lighting fixture the Sharingan Building likes to think is unique, Hinata ponders about what she thought is a garbage theory they always attribute with brain tumor patients. Is this what a phantom image should look like? Many a counselor group session has introduced her to such phenomenon. Reportedly, patients associate their seizures with distinct images that the subconscious holds on to for some reason that appeals personally to the patient themselves. She heard about crows once. And notes. And even Pacman. All of which, her companions reasoned, are things that they would like to come back to once everything is over. If so, she contemplates, her forehead creased. The Sharingan must have somewhat gotten closer to her heart—and her fucked up mind—more than she thought.

How absurd.

But even as the afflicting headache gradually recedes as she listlessly massages her forehead, the eerie image of the red, red eye still is yet to fade. It stays anchored into the ceilings, as unwavering as a sentinel as ever as it looms over her prone figure on the hospital bed. Defiantly, she stares back, as she did whenever she finds herself waking up at the sight. She never is as unnerved of it until now though. But such is but blameless. When you already know you are in a hospital, far away from home, far away from the stressful thing that made you be rushed there in the first place, far away from things she prefers to be something faced in the morrow, the last thing you should expect to see is a grim reminder.

And to think she still has to contact Tsunade about the book. The agent probably has all that ferocious blond hair of hers bunched up in her fists in sheer frustration after she ditched her of their promised lunch meeting that day. And here she is being quite anxious of the results of the initial proofreading. Tsunade can point things out like the best-schooled critic. Her judgment is to be trusted. Hinata's fingers ache to write more. There is a story, a part of her head insists as she fists her hands on her blanketed mattress, which needs to be told.

Real life.

To think too that she almost escaped death.

She imagines Hidan en route to her house that night. Driving 40 miles an hour. His trunk complete with all the equipment he needed. A fully-loaded Glock 38, face mask, stockings, hairnets, rubber gloves, oversized boots, condoms…

Hinata shivers. The condoms…

The Sharingan Light looks really reproving, she muses as her eyes draw languidly towards the luminescent blood-red circle inscribed the disk. The bulbs stay bright. From the noise at the corridor, she no longer can hear the slight wearing of the electricity current inside. A pensive frown deepens the once nonexistent lines on her face as she continues to glare at what she thought is an illusion she conjured with all her desire to just lock herself up in a room and write and write and write no longer about little boys riding a time machine, but real, tragic life.

The door suddenly creaks open. In a moment of puerility, Hinata looks up back at the ceiling expectantly. The Sharingan Light is still there.

She scowls.

Propping herself up from her bed and easing herself on her elbows, she watches a bespectacled, youngish woman emerge awkwardly from the little crack provided by the slightly open door, clipboard haphazardly placed in a folded arm. Platinum blond that is paler than Ino's so it must be dyed. She looks oddly out of place but it takes hardly any skill to deduce that the woman in her lab coat and checkered suit underneath is the one who has a say about her checking out or whether what is wrong in her is enough to require her admission in this hospital. The doctor smiles upon the sight of a conscious her. Hinata nods back in acknowledgement.

From behind the woman follows two other giddy-looking young people. Kids in comparison though. Obviously students who think that this is still part of a graded tour. Their movements are sluggish and somewhat pressured. Students. She has had experience with them too. Nurses-in-the-making who mostly panic at the wake of a seizure. But in a strangely reassuring way, their apparent flawed proceeding is what made them rather human to Hinata and thus, more genuine.

She smiles.

The two nurses waste no time and immediately get to work around the machines and into asking whether she needs anything in particular. Apparently, they are more efficient than they let on, proceeding into their job without a hitch or anything that warrants a flinch. Neither make a move to help her sit up nor fuss about anything that she doesn't want touched yet and for that she is rendered more appreciative. She presses the button herself and the hospital bed whirs upright until she is sure she can do the rest herself. Hinata sits erect and asks for some water. One nurse leaves. The other remains.

The doctor introduces herself as Shiho. And much to Hinata's shock and secret amusement, she looks as nervous as those interns from a while ago. Definitely nothing like those drawling, all-business medico people she has had the misfortune—or as she said, fucked up brains—to encounter over the years.

Again, she smiles.

After asking her perfunctory, standard procedures questions that Hinata is already used to lying to, that in context would only have Shiho conclude that yes, this happens quite often and no, it's nothing worrisome and yes, you can freely discharge yourself now and no, there seems to be nothing wrong except that you are a young woman with an exceptionally high blood pressure and yes, why don't you check up in here once in a while and I'll give you my prescription and while you're at it try having exercise and balanced diet 'kay?—Shiho is apparently a lot smarter and definitely more perceptive than the ridiculous, swirly pince-nez lets on. In a way, Hinata is not disappointed. Looks can be deceiving indeed.

For one thing, Naruto is not exactly the man he looks like.

And two: although Hinata is also exactly how she seems to be, she prefers to believe that there is more facets to herself than that.

"You are scheduled for a CAT-scan this morning." Doctor Shiho helpfully informs her, jotting down a few notes on her board that no doubt featured her as a patient in denial, an uncooperative one, someone who could be a pain in the ass in the future. Hinata has no idea what the opposite of being a hypochondriac is. But smart as these people are in this obscured jargon, that's probably what is written under her psychological assessment now. From the fastener, Shiho withdraws a consent form, shows it to her, reads some key phrases and elaborates. "Just ano… I want this to be signed now. You know, for formality."

Hinata makes no effort to hide her astonishment. Her jaw drops, blatantly ignoring the pen that is being shoved to her now. "How long have I been here exactly?" she asks, disbelieving that she is asked to enter that hellish machine again that her hair absolutely hated. Surely she didn't as of yet display enough symptoms for them to conclude—

"A day actually." Shiho turns back to her notes, as though to review this information. Then nods her white-yellowish (fake! the harsh critic in her screams) head. "You were admitted here at around 3:43 in the afternoon and it's around seven A.M. today so it could be arguably less than a day… hehe…"

"And?" Hinata frowns, dubiously, undettered by the doctor's nervous mirth. "That's enough for observation?"

Shiho shakes her head. "Er well no. But we saw your medical records and there is one thing that is cause for enough concern in there." The doctor flips a page and eyes her patient. Hinata wonders how many others were creeped by the fact that they couldn't see the woman's eyes at all. "I think you know what I am talking about, Hinata-san."

"My medical records aren't a matter of public stuff you'd just phone and request, right?" She states, somewhat smugly. Gone is the smile now that appreciated Shiho's fidgety approach on speaking with her. From the corner of her eye, she spies the water bearer back from her errand. She places the glass on the bedside table. Hinata ignores it. "How come you managed to get your hands in it immediately and realize…" The sentence hangs on. Hinata sighs. "And aren't they supposed to be confidential or something?"

"They ceased to be when you became our charge." Shiho replies, rather jumpily. Hinata is peeved by the fact that this odd woman still hasn't snapped at her by tone, despite what her words should imply. Shiho coughs awkwardly and continues. "And Yuuhi Kurenai-san works here too. She specifically suggested that you be scheduled for the scan today and yes, she has a copy of your records handy. She informed me a lot about… what's wrong with you."

Hinata doesn't bother denying that there is nothing wrong with her. It's futility in itself. "So I assume…" she drones, helplessly slumping back her bed. Goodbye hair, she grumbles silently. She sure does hope that it isn't as bad when she was a thirteen. "… that they'd be calling for a neurologist soon."

Shiho smiles and for the first time Hinata can see her as whom she should have been: somebody that is really proud of what they came to be. "I'm a neurologist."

Flabbergasted, Hinata could only mutter a: "Wow."

Shiho chuckles, good humor still intact. "Chidori really works fast. They called me in when you were taken in." She makes a whooshing onomatopoeia that only appeared rather comical once it left her lips. "Like lightning."

Hinata sighs. Looks up. The Sharingan Light is still there.

Shiho follows her gaze and there is another shaky chuckle. "I live in the building too so we're kind of neighbors, you see. I'm in 16-B. Fancy lights, right? People in the Rehabilitation specially love them. Tells us that it keeps whatever monters they have at bay. Me? I'm a happy soul so I don't understand it. But I get the beauty of it. Whenever, my folks come over it's the only thing they fuss about in my home. I'm not much of an interior designer, you see."

"Why is it here?" Hinata doesn't think twice to ponder about the oddity of how her inquiry was phrased. She concentrates.

"Hidden Sound Homes owns Chidori too." The neurologist supplies. "Rich people. But they are great employers. I just got my unit on loan after—"

"Who took me here?" she cuts in. Why does she have this feeling that it isn't KIba who brought her here at all? "Who brought me here in the hospital?"

Shiho's eyebrows are raised but Hinata's apparent urgency for an answer doesn't strike her as anything unusual. "Oh. That's right. You aren't conscious when he took you in. Do you have any idea how the interns practically drooled at how he carried you bridal style straight towards the emergency? And here we thought, the wheeled bed is the best and the fastest way. We are proven wrong it seems"

Surprisingly, the doctor goes into a series of blushes that much to Hinata's growing horror, are all so familiar. "It's Uchiha Sasuke-san, you see.." And somehow, the mention of the name doesn't surprise Hinata as the rest thrown to her this day did. "He's our IT man. You know, the kind of guy who takes care of the machines, the computer programs, surveillance cameras and whatnot while we mess it all up for him… And he's also the kind of guy who everyone kind of obeys. You should have seen him in action when he carries you. It's quite lucky that he's already in the vicinity when it happened. He's really just like—"

Hinata tunes her out, thoroughly peeved by a single thing.

_Surveillance cameras._

"He's really just like Superman."

The writer in her seems to think it rings a bell.

..

.

The CAT-scan didn't take too long and Kurenai was there to watch over her anyway so it isn't as monotonous and dreadful as it should be, albeit the nostalgia almost wrenched her gut. To another one of this day's surprises, running a comb in her head as she prepares to check out didn't harvest much of her hair. Chidori must have a really good reputation in the Harley Street Community. So far, the impressions she is getting is just as great as when she first laid her eyes on her unit and considering that it's a love at first sight thing, that is saying a lot. The doctors are really nice as when she said she has to, they immediately and obligingly checked her out.

Hinata is overly biased, you see so she wouldn't attribute that attitude of theirs of letting go of their patients just like that into negligence.

They are just sympathetic. And they don't see the point of unnecessary confining a person who doesn't have a need of it.

But they have a condition.

"The results will come in the next three days and we'll give you a call in that instant." Shiho zealously tells her while signing out papers that told her what she should be accounted for. Apparently, the Sharingan Building got its quirks too. They paid for most of her hospital bill already, being it company policy and benefits and whatnot. Tenants immediately enjoy special treatment in Chidori it seems. No wonder the staff seems so accommodating. They are well-paid. "But we insist you have Suigetsu-san install an emergency button in your unit. You never know. Uchiha Sasuke-san might not be there to rescue and take you in his arms in the future. Is it wrong to wish I was the one who fainted?" she adds with a conspiratorial whisper, sighing blissfully.

Hinata reminds herself that she has to thank him too.

"Indeed." She agrees on something she said. She isn't sure which.

"Keep me posted." The young doctor reminds her and leaves at her wake the smell of antiseptics and a fuming Hinata who realizes that with all this heavy summer rain outside, she is not likely to be able to go home yet.

Although the CID-turned-Traffic=Enforcer is probably the last person she wants to talk to now—Hinata couldn't help but groan about where Kiba is when you need him and his fancy sports car the most?

The Sharingan Light plans.

..

.

Five minutes later and again, surprisesurprise, a car pulls up on the hospital's driveway. Hinata stands miserably over the overhang, watching as the red-and-black Toronado's breaks screech into a halt right before her. The door leading to the front passenger seat pops open and amidst the incessant pitter patter drumming of the showers from the heavens, the Hyuuga vaguely hears an authoritative, urgent voice calling her to hop in…

Which she wisely (she thinks, ignoring the fact that the bottom of her pants are already soaked from the splashes) pretends not to hear as she still is a dignified woman and joyriding in a stranger's car isn't her modus operandi, thank you very much. She looks away…

Before Uchiha Sasuke's handsome face comes popping from the darkness of the car's interior and with that dynamite smile that made Sakura's bedroom eyes and Shiho's wish for a seizure make sense, threatens her that it's now or never. "Come on." He urges. "We don't have forever here Hinata."

And she doesn't know what possesses her to but she realizes that in all his darkness and being as mysterious as the night sky, he is the kind of man she sort of trusts after being basked in too much of deceptive sunlight.

She has had enough of men like her husband.

And this one… he is nothing like him.

Sasuke smiles at her.

She gets in.

..

.

"Thank you." are her first words to him once she successfully squeezed herself inside the car and comfortably on the burgundy leather upholstery. It cuts both ways. The inside smells good. Apples and the occasional mildew. Hinata sighs in relief. "You have no idea how perfect your timing is."

"As a matter of fact I do." He replies, eyes drawn on the waving wipers but his lips are quirked into an amused curve. "You look like you are going to have a fever staying out there in the cold. Stupid employees. Don't they have the sense to tell a patient to just stay inside?"

He speaks as though he can fire them anytime. "Ano.. It was my choice. I was waiting for a taxi."

He frowns, eyes still staring straight ahead. She is glad that he is such a shrewd driver. "Chidori doesn't have a taxi lane yet. As you can see, most patients come here by their own cars so we didn't see the necessity just yet."

The hospital for the wealthy then? "Oh." She resounds, dumbly. She wonders why Shiho hasn't bothered asking her whether she would like to have a taxi called. Oh, well perhaps she forgot. The hospital is busy for the evening after all. They certainly couldn't be bothered by an absent-minded woman with no sense of direction whatsoever who probably didn't know that there is no taxi lane in vicinity and that she has no idea how to go home. Gratefully, she glances at Sasuke. Superman. It fits him. "Thank you. Really. I am in your debt. I was told that you are the one who brought me here. Do you work here?"

The car swerves sideward out of the main gates. Chidori is even more impressive in the outside, she notes. Even under the pelting rain and all the wet pavements. An out-of-place architectural marvel indeed that goes in the same league as the Sharingan. Hidden Sound must have been really quite an exceptional corporation. The Hyuuga sure can take some advice.

Sasuke responds with a nonchalant shrug. "Uh. No. Just part-time. I mostly spend my days at home. Freelance, remember? I am here during night shifts when trouble in the works is more common. Otherwise, me and my lonely life."

Hinata nods. In remembrance. Sasuke and his unusual timeslot on grocery shopping. The nightjob. And his free time that actually includes reading her children's books. "Ah. Got really lucky then." She concludes. "Thanks for taking me in there okay? The doctors have been awesome and I kind of feel better now which is probably not how I will be feeling if I woke up alone in the unit instead."

She is surprised (again!) to hear the truth in her words.

"If I weren't wrong, Inuzuka is with you. The one with the dog? He brought you down the ground floor and I was just there in the front." He shrugs once more and in that motion makes a right turn. He is smirking. "He doesn't seem to have any idea about what he should do though."

"That's Kiba-kun to you." She answers, chuckling softly as she easily visualizes the mental image. "He panics easily."

He seems to take this tidbit into serious thought—lips thinning- before speaking again. "So… what did the doctors say about the seizure?" He cocks his head sidewards, contemplating. His eyes are trained on her. "Not being nosy or anything but… I hope it's not about the unit giving you the headache? I read somewhere that some people get a bit woozy after moving in. It's absurd but it's been documented many a time." He looks at her as he pauses by the stoplight. "To be honest, I'm starting to believe it."

Hinata blushes. She couldn't help it.

"That's me to you." She says, keeping up with the parallelism she started. "I faint easily whenever I'm tired."

His brows furrow intelligently. Hinata realizes that she rather like that look on him. Sophistication suits Uchiha Sasuke like no other. "You are writing, I see." He observes, looking like he approves. His head bobs back and forth. "That's nice."

"You guessed. Not about Sawada Hiroki though."

They move on from the stoplight. Hinata recognizes the buildings to be the one she has passed by when she was en route to the Sharingan building for the first time. But if so, it almost seems as if…

"I see." He nods his head sagely, keeping his concentrated eyes on the road. "Trying to find yourself, I hope?"

It takes a full moment for Hinata to realize that he didn't ask her why but he stated the reason in a way that she would have put it herself. All thoughts of fleeing from the moving car forgotten as he once again startles her with his uncanny perception.

"That's nice." He says. And you can hear a smile in his voice. "I think it's about time you make something for yourself. Your name , I mean. You haven't like working on the series for a while now so might as well take a break by working on another. As a programmer, I do advice that."

The rain gradually fades over into a barely noticeable shower. Neither seem to care in the meantime. "You have an idea for plot up your sleeves I hope? I can supply you suggestions." he inquires

"Yes." She tells him eagerly. "I am. If you want, I can give you a copy. Started it after I got inspired a week ago. You know plot bunnies. They bite hard."

He scoffs. It doesn't sound offensive. "How far have you come to it then?" he asks. Perfectly reasonable.

"About done actually."

He appears startled. The car's slight staggering speaks so. "That's impressive pace." He ejaculates, dark obsidian eyes wide with striking awe. He isn't one with much color so even in shadows, she can see him well.

Even in her slowly deteriorating vision, she can still see him well. "I know right." And she answers him with a smirk of her own.

Hinata is quite aware that they are taking the long way home—for all she can tell the Sharingan Building is probably in the same street as the hospital- but somehow, along the way that she finds herself checking the man beside her out…

She can't seem to find the will to mind.

…

No longer is there an unforgiving, heavy rain hammering on their heads when they decided to pull up momentarily by an empty road. Hinata has specifically requested him to. The hilltop road overlooks Konoha canyon and in an evening cleared of clouds and differently-hued skies, the series of ancient caves is quite a magnificent sight. From where they stand, the splendid rockland depression resembling that of a giant toad is visible, as well as the outline and solution of the labyrinthine maze once you have the guts to venture it in. The canyon is notorious for the amount of well-mummified fossils that have been unearthed over the years and even now as he stands all grown up with a woman that might be the reincarnation of Mikoto, he still is awed. As a child, Uchiha Sasuke has always wanted to become a paleontologist. His mother is of course, supportive. Fugaku is yet another story.

The Uchiha patriarch thought it childish. And a few years later and sometime after Mikoto's death that shocked the whole country, Sasuke realizes it is too. Digging up dinosaurs is not the ideal life. He has had enough of death, as it is. So in a fit of ingenuity that he decided he should use, he gets entangled with Orochimaru and the Hidden Sound in his teenage years, left orphaned as he is by his own father thinking it's probably a nice way of forgetting when he unceremoniously dumped himself into a freezing lake. Itachi makes his money elsewhere but Sasuke has always been one for independence. Taking over the Hidden Sound doesn't require much. Computers, are after all his best friends. Odorless, uncomplaining, intelligent little bastards who make him see everything. You don't grieve when they leave you too and that, he think to this day is a very welcome change.

Real people are a pain in the ass, yes. Though he amends that their life stories and the way they deal with it can be quite interesting.

Hinata is of no exception. "So I believe you are already aware…" he begins, watching as she leans back solemnly on the hood of the car with a mood so thoughtful you'd guess it is not about the aesthetics of this archeological landmark. "… that Chidori is just around the corner of the Sharingan…"

Eyes still closed, she nods. Her eyelashes are really exquisite, he muses. Definitely like the nobility Mikoto is.

Sasuke persists. "You sure you don't mind?"

Hinata doesn't look at him when she speaks. "I believe a stranger's company can be of use to me now. You thought so too right?"

He recognizes the last statement as rhetorical. "Got enough of the world you are familiar with?"

"Hmmm…" She murmurs, tilting her head back slightly and inadvertently exposing her neck. Mouth going dry, Sasuke immediately feels himself harden. Damn. In person, she is even more of a temptation. This girl… No wonder she has a stalker. That impertinent fool who wants to kill her for not giving him the time of the day. He, himself probably would kill for her too, Sasuke muses, his hand fisting his knees. She is worth that much devotion.

Fugaku killed a man to marry Mikoto.

Sasuke can do infinite things that are better than that.

They are alone.

No one in a few miles.

Maybe—

"I know it's strange. Surreal even." Hinata continues, distracting him for a second. She still has her eyes closed. Her breathing is steady. This, Sasuke realizes, is indeed the fresh air she needs. "Me wanting the company of a stranger when I had enough of those who know me. In a way, it's like lying to myself. When I can pretend I am not Hinata without necessarily deceiving you. I think it's a great break to talk about new thing once in a while. Especially when it's no longer about old things that I am just tired with."

"That's the beauty of one night stands—" His tone is suggestive…

Hinata, to his surprise throws him an amusedly, admonishing look which all of a sudden, makes him feel like the child he used to be. When Mikoto was still alive-

Yes. He likes that.

He likes her.

"I prefer the more poetic approach ala 'Strangers in the Twilight'." She tells him, a pout visible in her face. "You know a one night stand without being a one night stand, sex being the last thing in their minds when they hung out together for the night."

He perks up. "Are you trying to imply that we should fuck after we talk?" It's better to be blunt, without sounding too excited of the prospect. They really should come back in the Sharingan now, he wishes trying to suppress a devious smirk. He has some recording devices stashed around every room so whichever they choose… "You are in abstinence, as well as being a hermit I see."

Flustered, her face predictably flames. "No! That isn't what I mean."

He helps her. "Stranger in the Twilight?"

"That's an old show. Really old. I think I wasn't born yet." She explains, looking humiliated. Apparently, she is one of the people that crushing prepubescent boys would like to tease, as beautiful as she looks now when she dons that bashful expression. "I watched it when I was a child."

He nods. "It was Uchiha Mikoto's last sitcom." He states proudly. And he waits for it to ring a bell. It does. She is a smart girl. Hinata… "Of course, she wasn't an Uchiha yet back then. And she still goes by a screen name." Sort of like Hinata's pseudonym, he thinks. "That was before she got married to my Dad."

"You mean…" Her eyes are wide. She probably just realized, like most people when they hear of it why his cognomen sounds so familiar.

He chuckles. "Yes."

The crickets chirp. An owl croons. Both young adults forget about a hot, passionate night with each other for the moment that they stare each other down. Hinata knows that the actress has died years ago. It was worldwide news. And suddenly, she feels kinship to the odd man who probably lost the person he loved the most as she did when her mother died at around the same time.

Sasuke's voice surprisingly to both of them, is sad when he mentions this to her. "You look like her too."

As Hinata mulls over the heavy implications his words carry, she realizes that no one else has ever told her that. A man marries his mother. Oedipus Complex is a persistent, fleeting thought but she decides to ignore it.

..

What waits for Hinata back at 13-B is a livid Kiba who looks none the pleased at being kept waiting for who-knows-how-long at her doorstep. There is a scowl in his face. Akamaru is still nowhere to be seen. He looks out of place in that obnoxiously orange uniform amidst the black and white motif of the thirteenth floor. At the sound of his demanding, authoritative voice inquiring about her whereabouts, the door from Unit A opens. Ino peeks from the gap, smiles at Hinata then shuts the door again.

By this time, Sasuke would be in his unit now. They agreed to have dinner on Friday. Hinata wonders whose place they would go afterwards.

She needs to get laid. What liberty does fucking a stranger offers? She wonders.

Sighing at the sight of her friend, the Hyuuga laments to herself that she would pay for any sort of invasion of privacy that Ino could concoct just to escape from this. She doesn't want to hear any of it. Kiba's apology. Another tenacious love confession. Another news about her stalker she tries her best to forget. It is a shame that Ino still got some propriety to be polite. Hinata would have preferred the interruption over anything else.

"I have checked on you in the hospital." He begins, a stern frown marring his otherwise jolly features. He looks even more animalistic than usual and for the first time Hinata resolves that Kiba indeed has grown into the ferocious wolf he has always insisted on being. "They told me you've been out since around 5:30. I went there on seven."

What time is it now? she asks herself frantically whilst resisting the urge to take a guilty glance on her watch. Have she and Sasuke really been taking a walk around the canyon for that long? It didn't seem so. He was just a terrific company, talking about things that didn't break her heart, his mother, his job, hers and the splendor that is Sharingan Building. And the last thing in their minds at that time had been taking each other home. And sex. So…

"Hinata, you know it's unsafe for you to venture at this time of night." Kiba scolds, knocking her back to the reality without Sasuke and the solace he brings with his oddity. She has had enough of the familiar. And with a start, she realizes that a new thing is the break she really needs. Not old friends, who knows her as who she didn't want to be but is. "Hidan's fellow cult members might target you. Don't ask me why but Shino would probably tell you that they are fanatics and who the hell knows what goes on around their minds? The thing is, I don't want you to compromise the safety you feel whenever you're here. Sharingan is the safest place in the world, true. But it doesn't include anywhere else."

"Do you want me to stay here the whole time then?" She is a bit peeved by the logic. "I don't think I can promise that Kiba-kun. I have a book coming, remember? And that entails enough responsibility for me to run around the whole of Japan in circles."

The policeman sighs. "But Hinata! It's dangerous! You're rich enough. You can postpone it anytime"

"That's the paranoia talking Kiba-kun." She quips, her defiance to anything that goes against anything that concerns suppressing her writing speaking for herself. "Please tell me that is not you telling me to be a coward."

If Kiba's wide eyes are to be judged, he is blown incredulous. "How is it a matter of courage now?"

Hinata attempts to move past him. He blocks the way. He is glaring at her. "How is it a matter of courage?" he repeats sharply and she winces when she hears Naruto's voice say those words instead. "I'm not saying that you should run away from it Hinata. The thing is, I care for you. And after hearing what happened, I know it's more than that. Naruto made a mistake when he abandoned you while you are in this peril. I'm not going to. Never. Hinata. That's because—"

"This conversation is over Kiba-kun." She dismisses in haste and she tries again to make a beeline towards the door.

Kiba doesn't relent. He hulks before her path, as menacing as the monsters in her nightmares. "No Hinata." He hisses, eyes squinting. He looks desperate. But even the amidst the lurking anger beneath those cold eyes, she still can tell that Kiba, as always means well—but not the best for her.

I'm sorry, Kiba-kun.

Kiba's voice is pleading, lonely when he concludes his statement with a: "Not until you hear me out."

And with a slam, he presses her hard against the wall.

The shrill cry of the fire alarm rings. The sprinklers come loose with a rainfall. The Sharingan Light blares.

Interruption, her mind whispers but she is too panic stricken to recognize the word.

She is given the opportunity to run away.

…

Nine floors up, Sasuke smiles in satisfaction.

This nightjob of his, he thinks as he withdraws his fingers from the fire alarm button,- grinning all the while with pride that he first felt when he pronounced triceratops correctly at three years old- definitely has the best perks of all.

He watches Hinata bolt towards the fire exit where everyone is probably running towards now. Kiba follows close behind, all thoughts of unrequited love forgotten as he runs up to see to his mutt. Sasuke, as well prepares to come down. He wonders, once he explains to the rest that this is just a mandatory fire drill, whether Hinata would care for a nightcap.

She needs the break.

He smiles. Shiho is right. And he is going to be giving that doctor a raise.

He is Superman.

**(TBC)**

**Psychologically, this chapter clears out several things. One, that I have no plans of making Hinata clueless here. I made her a brilliant writer for a reason, particularly for her to easily conjure things up on how things would be done no matter how absurd it is. So in a way, I did sneak a few lines that hint of her instincts. They aren't much yet but I think it sets up the stage for the scene when Hinata finally deduces everything, something I am looking forward to write.**

**Two, a short glance about Sasuke and his past. For the last two chapters, we've been pretty busy with Hinata's issues and Naruto's apparent omniscience but that's necessary for me to lay a field for the Obsessive Phase. Sasuke, unfortunately would stay as an ambiguous character for now. I hope that doesn't reveal much but the climax is going to be so much of a ride that I am quite afraid of the results.**

**And three: I put in the romance tag for a reason. Who else wants to read about Hinata falling for Sasuke, only to realize that he's more of a creep than she perceives everyone else to be? She's afraid of love for a reason, after all and I'm going to have fun exploring that while we are still in the anxiety phase.**

**_Strangers in the Twilight _is a reference to fanfic written by an author who inspired me the most. Talking to her really did wonders in my English and the psychology of her fics are just wow. The DC fandom has always been the best when it comes to murder mystery. I couldn't resist okay?**

**Please review.**


	7. Anxiety: Confession

.

07

.

Human nature, when you already are used to it, tends to be horribly predictable, like a computer algorithm that you already have a basic idea with regards to its workings. And a dance so repetitive there never is something new. Psychoanalyzing is but a matter of cross-referencing after all, weighing both the natural and unique traits of a subject in such a way that you can accurately guess how they would react amidst an orchestrated situation. Once you already have an inkling of what their capabilities and movements are, it is all but a live shoji game, with strategies recorded in your mind that you can guess ahead. Humans, pitifully are just like pawns. In four years of watching his tenants, seldom has Uchiha Sasuke actively meddled into their lives, choosing to be the all-seeing shadow that laughs at their blunders but stays nonchalant in their agony. He listens to their arguments, eavesdrops in their business transactions, watches them have sex. Believe it or not, it starts to feel like watching Big Brother Raw firsthand—putting a bunch of idiots in a house and we are all supposed to care. And although he exercises less intervention, he has just as much control. Being essentially the owner of the company leaves him with nothing to do. It is only for kicks. However, he does like the feeling of having eyes everywhere.

Especially now.

Once upon a time Uchiha Sasuke had only been a boy who vicariously began his existence by listening for hours and hours by his parent's bedroom, hearing with sick fascination everything they did. Itachi was always away at the time, doing what good children should do by being the greatest kid in town and the perfect, ideal son. And in reality, being his boring self. Sasuke who preferred National Geographic over History thought that a life without present intrigue is no life at all. Living in deafening silence inside their isolation left him no choice. Uchiha Sasuke was the closet genius anyway. So he found a way.

While his brother was busy in his endeavours, the younger Uchiha's talents in spying had later improved into the inconceivable, devising advanced ways of knowing exactly what everyone was up to with just a computer and a few circuits here and there that he smuggled from his brother's dark room. When he was ten and more ingeniously creative, Sasuke had actually managed to concoct a way to actually see them and what they did inside and what Fugaku did to his mother and what Itachi did not want him to see. It was not the world's first surveillance camera, nor the most advanced in existence at that primitive time of landlines and sizeable motherboards but for a ten-year old to successfully piece out such in secrecy, it was a big deal.

That same age, he had also discovered that the telephone extension could work wonders and much, much later how to install video cameras in a position that had the perfect view point. He had designed the lights. He had created the Sharingan. And he had envisioned a world where he could see every thing; with him sitting eating onigiri and watching all things unfold. He was sure then that there was more to the world than just Fugaku and Mikoto getting it on and quarreling and being showy and how right he was!

Eventually though, Mikoto did discover him and although, she did not approve of it at first, he could tell that she was at least as fascinated as he with the videos he had recorded over the years. Itachi did bring home some girlfriends (and sometimes they weren't really girls) to fool around with after all. And Fugaku was not the most loyal of men. More often than not, she was turned on more than disgusted and that shut her up. It was a huge pity that she had to die before she could tell the world about Sasuke's genius though. He would have been the top guy in the NSA by now, listening to asinine idiots throw baseless threats all around his world paronama. He probably wouldn't meet and care about Hinata. The world would have been at the very palm of his hand. Not that he minds though. He likes the feeling of caring. He likes the feeling of loving again. He likes the feeling of…

Hinata…

Over the monotony caused by routine, watching people cozing in their homes could be crushingly, mind-numbingly dull. Boring same old, same old schedule being practiced by the saddest, dumbest people Sasuke has ever had the pleasure of meeting. Occasionally, there can be drama where the character's lives at least go through enough of a rollercoaster ride to keep him from seeking out sex for weeks but that is just a slight spark in the frequency in their activities. Arguments can be settled. The kinkiest ones get tired of their sex life over time. And even the most bittersweet of affairs end. Sasuke was already prepared to admit that the thrill of being the Sharingan wanes over time until Hinata entered the premises and smiled that smile and looked that way and made him look forward once again to the pleasurable company of a very attractive woman.

She looks like Mikoto, the person he adored watching the most.

He wants her.

And he would get her.

Sasuke descends twenty-one floors down.

..

"… And I'm sorry for the inconvenience but this is just a precautionary measure. We in the Sharingan value the safety and welfare of our tenants more than anything so when we heard that there is a small conflagration in 21-B, we could not take the risk. Again, we are sorry for the inconvenience. Everything is fine and settled now. You can now return to your units and please enjoy the good night sleep that has been interrupted by tonight's episode. Again, we are sorry for the inconvenience. Thank you."

Amidst the cursing and grumblings of the people congregated around, Yakushi Kabuto speaks with unquestionable authority, his slight, intelligent suited frame distinguished amongst the mass of disturbed and thoroughly annoyed sleepyheads. He looked perfect, the epitome of a man who should be stoic in such emergencies as these. The hallways leading to the fire exit double doors are packed with the same people wondering where the fire was and inching to scram away to safety, only to arrive and find out that they had already taken care of it and the so-called emergency was actually most likely just the staff being uptight and worrisome over a simple stove fire. The irritation was palpable and if Hinata was not so busy mulling over the words she heard at the reassuring speech, she would have conformed immediately into thinking that the Sharingan was a bit too much in their precautions.

21-B.

Thankfully, Kiba is still nowhere to be seen. Akamaru is always the first of his concerns and knowing who he is and him thanking everything that she is safe for now and deciding for everyone else that they are, yes severely inconvenienced, he would be barking at the poor manager's head in hopes of having something to scream at after the earlier confrontation with her in the thirteenth floor. In a moment after cooling down, Kiba would realize that Hinata is better off alone for the time being until she gets into the mood to reconcile. He is a considerate friend like that. And this is not really the first time they got into each other's bad side.

They are friends like that.

From amidst the crowd, Hinata's eyes search for Sasuke, scanning through the groggy multitude for the tall, dark-haired looker with the dynamite smile in order to calm her already frazzled nerves. Sasuke's unit is in 21-A and it is quite possible that he was about to enter his rooms just as the "fire" and the "sprinklers" broke out.

With sick anticipation, she finds herself inching to tell him of her inkling that the Sharingan seems to be somewhat in her side now when everything else in the world had not been. Somehow when she is near the highly perceptive man, she feels oddly stimulated, with a lot of ideas coming forth like a brainwave, all of which hugely applicable in her expansion of her current preoccupation. Sasuke's presence seems to inspire the awakening of a sleeping brilliance, her excellence from when she was thirteen now no longer feeling like a distant, irretrievable memory. It is probably just because Sasuke is such a great soundboard, someone she can talk to and feeling like he always responds the way she wants him to. He says what she wants to hear. He avoids the topic she does not want pursued. And he is quite the embodiment and the dichotomy of what she wants to see for a longest time.

Such a perceptive man.

Sure, he must be doing this just to get into her pants and have his way with her but what makes her any different? He is an attractive man and she knows well that her insides are already wanting to be filled with all of him. What is wrong with this lust when the rest of the world is reveling in mindless and alchohol-induced promiscuity? He does not look like Naruto, the person she wants to forget the most. She wants him. And she would get him.

Even just for the night.

A heavy hand comes to rest on her shoulder and for some reason, she knows immediately that this is not Kiba.

Sasuke's whole demeanor is gentle, coaxing and smiling when he remarks that it is getting unbelievably noisy here. He is still wearing the same shirt as a while ago in the canyons, looking nothing like her panicked and highly perturbed self. "So wanna scram?" he asks, fingers squeezing sensually on her shoulder, his lips indiscreetly wet. His eyes suggest limitless things. Hinata naughtily wonders what she would see when she would chance a look down south. She blushes at the thought. She has not had the company of a man for almost a year.

"There's a bar next block." He continues, nonplussed by her lack of response. There is a twinkle in his eyes, his smirk curved in apparent sync with his intentions. He is a rebel and Hinata realizes that she would like to write something about that. More. "Walking distance."

Well… she ponders inwardly. She needs the walk.

"Everything safe in your rooms now, I hope?" she asks, knowing that she has to care somehow. Already, the crowd of disturbed and annoyed tenants starts to dissipate. Kiba is still nowhere to be seen but it is apparent that they really have to "scram" soon if she wants to get away from the dreaded confrontation, like she always tried. Because that is who she is. Outside of fiction, she prefers the climax postponed as much as possible. "I heard that there is a fire."

"Stove fire." Sasuke confirms the joke, to which Hinata groans audibly and the dark-haired man chuckles. "The Mangekyous being careless again."

What an unusual family name, she thinks, marveling that there is such Japanese cognomen that still uses the highly uncommon three-letter syllable that does not end with a vowel sound. Kaleidoscope. Such a sophisticated-sounding name for a supposedly clumsy bunch of tenants who cannot even manage something as… regular as a stove fire. "Geez…" she mutters in exasperation, shaking her head while marveling in amazement about the extent of human stupidity. Albert Einstein was right. That perhaps she is not really the only one. "I think I can really use a drink."

He smiles. Satisfaction. The dynamite again. And Hinata is struck by the epiphany that his smile, while it doesn't suit him, oxymoronically looks good on his face. He is indeed, quite the paradox. He is so… mysterious. He is… so not Naruto. "So… shall we?" he offers, the smile now strained. It seems like niceties for him does take some effort too.

There is something about that that flatters Hinata to no end.

Sasuke offers a long arm. Hinata with a slight shrug, graciously takes it.

She has the feeling that this would turn out to be a long night.

…

"You seem stressed." He drones casually, once they slipped into the booth and bought themselves some of the intoxicating bourbon that they both tacitly agreed that they need for tonight. Jazz music plays from onstage, the singer swaying from every note of the keyboard. The bartender is off somewhere at the edge of the counter, busy on obsessively wiping bottles that are already immaculate enough. Sasuke holds his glass. Sips a bit. Puts it down. Hinata stares at hers with a sullen, reluctant regard, wondering whether she should just have settled with a martini. "You mind telling me about it?" he prompts, raising the glass up again and downing it in one shot with no repercussion but a small flush. With a critical eye, Hinata observes that for someone who holds a complicated, attention-taking nightjob, Sasuke sure is an expert drinker. "I have good ears." He adds as an afterthought, his lips a thin line.

She shakes her head, letting a few indigo strands fall framing her face in the process. "Not worth your listening skills I think." She answers, shoving the drink slightly away, to which Sasuke only cocks a perfectly shaped brow, those dark eyes calculating… something. "Some people have it worse."

"Hn." His nod is grave but disagreeing. He crosses both muscular arms over his chest, intelligently contemplating aloud. "But does that really change the hell you are feeling? I think I'd just go past what other people feels. It's myself who matters in the end anyway."

She pointedly ignores the rather self-placating comment."It doesn't. Change anything, I mean. Sure. But I think I prefer that hell as small in influence as possible."

"Quite the loner I see."

"Well, yeah. What does it matter?" A dismissive shrug. In which Hinata finally takes courage to take a swig from her drink and to put the glass back with a resounding clang. Almost immediately, the liquid paves its burning sensation down her throat, lighting up the fire inside her and supplying the Dutch in her some guts. "Well, you know what? I'd hate to talk about me. What about—?"

"No. Not me. I'd hate to talk about myself as well."

Hinata pouts, while rolling her white eyes. "Hmm…" she grumbles, drumming fingers on the countertop. The jazz band goes unheard. And the alcohol has so far drowned the redundant chatter around. She feels Sasuke's knee brush against hers but one shot of bourbon and she has already lost the will to mind. Hinata is never one with resilience anyway. "Let's talk about…"

"Sex?" he suggests cheekily, taking yet another drink.

It earns him a pinch. Sasuke scoffs.

"That does not make me any less horny." He points out, smirking.

"Does talking about it make you any less?" she retorts, calling forth another round. She wonders where she got the wit. She asks for a Martini this time—vodka and only a count of vermouth preferably. She wonders how red her face is now. "Please don't try suggesting anything."

"Hn." He throws her a shrug. With martyrdom. The vampiric smirk is still present. "So how's life?"

"After forty minutes since last seeing you?" she chortles sarcastically, coughing in mirth. "The Sharingan proves itself imperfect at least. Who activates the fire alarm for the whole building just because of a manageable stove fire?"

"They probably just panicked." He says. Too defensively. Something about it rings the ominous bells gearing in Hinata's mind. "But you have to admit everything else is first rate. Have you tried the laundry room? The gym? Or have you been too much of a hermit these past few days to be bothered?"

"Sharingan strikes me of the feeling that it was meant to be a condo." She voices out. It has been in her conscious for so long, especially after hearing what shenanigans and extras the place has for the tenants. A gym, a pool and massage center is not an everyday routine in an apartment complex that costs like the amount she pays for hers.

"It was supposed to be. Originally." The glee in his eyes strikes her that he rather is pleased to where her logic brought her. "Lucky for us it isn't huh?"

"I just wonder what changed." She prompts this time, feeling her brows furrow as the beginning of a puzzle surface. She used to be a businesswoman too after all. "I wouldn't try to especially if I already made an investment. "

"Maybe the demand changed?" he suggests shrewdly but that does not keep her away from the scent. This is what she gets when she starts the writing bonanza for anything remotely fishy. Paranoia does a few wonders in the mind. Skepticism and objectivity are just one of the few side effects.

"But still." She couldn't just let the whole subject drop. "Who owns the place? Do you know? You being in Chidori Medical and all."

"Yakushi Kabuto takes the checks." He supplies. "Other than that I don't have much idea except that we both answer to the same people."

Wow. The place is quite the mystery then, she ruminates, the wheels in her head turning. She now knows what to do in the meantime. "You can say that again." She says, finding with some surprise, mischief in her voice.

They drink.

…

In which Uchiha Sasuke realizes with apprehension that Hyuuga Hinata is the type that does not just let sleeping dogs lie.

He has to do something.

…

Groggy and slightly inebriated, they both agreed tacitly to crash at her place.

They take the stairs.

…

"I feel guilty." Sasuke says once Hinata has switched on the living room lights and shut the door with a permanent thud. The sound echoes along the quiet hallway, the resonance unheard by the occupants of unit 13A, absorbed as they are with their own worlds. The dark-haired Uchiha immediately pores his way towards the loveseat, sinking in lethargy and sighing in relief before continuing. "I feel really guilty."

Hinata takes the seat before him, tilting her head in confused, drunken askance. "Guilty over what?" she asks, not really caring.

"That I'm not really telling the whole truth about myself." He does not even slur. Obviously, Sasuke is not nearly as intoxicated as she is. His dark eyes pans around the room, appraisingly taking in every detail. "What a beautiful painting." He idly comments at the image of a flying bird over her head, framed expensively and the apricot shade glinting amidst the fluorescent glow of the Sharingan light. "Quite exquisite too. Not an amateur, I see?"

"It's been exhibited in Tokyo National Museum twice already." She states proudly, smiling. "But Neji-niisan is a close relative of mine so I got in through a fair price. Getting a year older, to be precise."

Cross-legged and comfortable already, Sasuke laughs. "But it's nice. It gives you the feeling of being free without losing the menace and strength of a predator. Like a hawk being freed of his cage and the picturesque understanding that it is meant to fly."

Hinata stares at him, slack-jawed and totally impressed. "That was what he was aiming for actually."

They talked about it over the phone in her first day.

"And that sculpture as well." He points at the headstone imitation of Sherlock Holmes at the corner, his wave easy and confident. "Very nice. Done by another friend?"

"Uh no. Just a particularly expensive souvenir from Baker Street."

"Very nice." His head circles around. "Very nice indeed."

She says. "So what is it that you are guilty about?"

The question instantly makes him turn to her, draws a deep breath and his dark, confident eyes look troubled for a single moment. "I've been feeling guilty." He begins once again. "You see, in the bar a while ago I just realized that you are the type who stops at nothing in order to resolve the truth. You asked me if I know who owns the building, and I said no. I think that maybe you are still wondering about the change to rental and all and…." He shrugs. "I don't like the idea of you being distracted by this conundrum and all when I can easily just have it solved for you."

Her eyes widen a fraction. She did not expect this."You know who owns it?"

He nods.

"Who?" she asks, suddenly rendered excited.

He touches his chest, taps it. "Me." He says simply. "I'm the owner."

She stares at him.

"I received a bit of wealth when my mother died, you see. I was fifteen. And it was only accessible when I was eighteen, some seven years ago." He explains. "And even before that, my family was quite well-off already. I inherited a bit of loot when I was eighteen and because I already work there part-time anyway, I decided to invest a few shares in Hidden Sound. I am in good terms with the CEO and he trusted me quite a bit with the affairs. You see, I was the one who eradicated that virus that was hacking and stealing their stocks so in a way, they are indebted to me. The construction of this building was easy after that. You know, I own half of the Hidden Sound now. Business likes me that much."

Nodding, she murmurs. "Sure…" She is stunned.

"So as I said…" he resumes, leaning back on his seat. "Real state is great investment and there's the demand that I told you about. I grew up in a big house isolated from civilization so the thrill seeker in me wants that experience. I like flexibility so I changed my mind about the condos. I knew apartment rentals are not the fastest way to take back what's yours but considering that I am planning to live in the building anyway, it would be a pain to get stuck with the same people for eternity until the earth crumbles. Who knows? I might take in a rich guy who parties and does trouble all night. Condos are a permanent thing. Even if I am the owner, i would be powerless in evicting the most troublesome of nuisance if the bureaucracy of owning the unit sides with them. And well, I believe in the best service and secrecy. I like the feeling of being normal for once. Nobody knows I'm the owner except a few and the staff does not kiss my ass all the time."

She flinches from the profane expression but she excuses it. "You live here all year round?"

He nods meekly but the pride in that small gesture is as apparent as commas in the Art Deco light. "Yes. As I said, I'm a computer person. I'm not a firm believer of the Donald Trump flaunting philosophy. Only the Hyuugas do that these days, no offense. But with all the yachts and the mansions displayed in every business magazines, you can't avoid the arrogance brand."

Hinata smiles. It is true. The Hyuugas are ones with pride. "How come you haven't taken over the whole top floor?" she asks, unable to suppress the smirk that is forming. "And you even let yourselves be neighbours with the… what's their name again?"

"Mangekyous?" She notices that his supplication is a tad bit reluctant.

She scoffs, still not recovering from the amusement brought by the odd name. "And the Mangekyous."

They stare at each other.

"The staff took special care of me when I came. I was new but i could tell it was ordered. Not that i am ungrateful or anything but..." Hinata states, the longtime inquiry finally taking over the spotlight of her conscious as curiousity overtakes her. "Have you anything to do with that Sasuke-san?"

"I saw you when you first inquired. I was at the mail room. And it only took me a moment."

"A moment?" Now, she really is confused.

Sasuke does not hesitate. "I told you. You look like my mother Hinata and I was… you can say… I was attracted to you." He stands now, fidgets a bit with his steps, vanishes in the kitchen as though it is his not hers and comes back with a glass of water. Hinata is too flabbergasted with his words to follow. "Yamanaka-shishou thinks it's universal. Oedipus complex I mean. No exceptions whatsoever. You know Yamanaka? Your neighbour's dad? I heard him talking about it in the elevator once with a patient. He's a great doctor, really great and you won't believe the amount of practice he gets with all the patient that comes all day."

"Not very great, I think." She contradicts, frowning. "If he talked something as confidential as a case when an outsider is within earshot, then I would heed Ino-san's advice. I'd hate to have a shrink."

Sasuke chuckles. But she can hear his increasing unease.

They are not liking where this conversation is going.

Hinata wonders what in the world has she gotten herself into.

…

"Aren't you afraid that I will use this information against you, Sasuke-san?" Hinata asks him, eyes boring with scrutiny on his very soul. Sasuke has to give the woman credit. She is infinitely and incredibly smarter than how she looks. They would make such a good team. He likes the sound of that. Maybe he should show her— "Aren't you afraid that I'll tell all the other tenants?" she questions further, forehead creased. "You know just for kicks. Just to see how they would… um, in your words… 'kiss your ass'."

Oh. Another time then. When he knows Hinata would appreciate his eyes as much as he does.

"No." he has to say firmly, just to make himself sound more believable than the blundering fool that is telling that he likes her when he should have known better that she prefers not to hear that. "You'd protect my privacy. You're the type. Do I read you wrong, Hinata? Do I mind me calling you that? Hinata?"

She shakes her head, allowing him to officially drop any formality. "And you know I'd be doing that because…"

"Because you're Hinata." He replies with certainty. "And that's just who you are. I can see it."

He has eyes everywhere, right?

She smiles. He can tell that she cannot help that after what he said. At least she still is not immune to flattery after a dose of Naruto and Kiba all in one week. "You are right."

She rubs her brows, sighing out tiredly. "Sasuke-kun."

From his seat, Sasuke glances at the Sharingan light.

The record is on.

…

"Naruto-kun and I married as soon as I graduated in highschool. He works in the city hall nowadays and he was president of the student council when we were going out. He got me pregnant. In my senior year. But I had a miscarriage later. And later . And later."

"Do you prefer the water hotter, Hinata?"

"Sure."

He takes an arm from around her nude body, gropes, finds the shower handle and turns the water hotter.

"We hadn't had problems until he tried and tried." She says. "And the infallible determination began to irk me. Ugh… Sasuke-kun.. That feels good. Mmm.. And Naruto-kun did remind me of both my highly energetic mother before and authoritative father so you are not the only one with the parental hung-up." She kisses his throat as he licks water from her eyebrow.

"Do I remind you of your father as well?" he asks, feeling her up and inserting a finger in her core.

"Seems like I haven't gotten over it too." They kiss, laughing.

Kisses. "Oh god." Turns. More kisses. "Sasuke-kun. Uh. Don't stop. Mmm… mmm… Wait a sec." Kisses stop. "Why did you turn on the lights?"

"I just like looking at you." Kissing again.

The Sharingan—

Hinata reaches for the switch, turns it off.

"You are one naughty girl, Hinata." He playfully admonishes. And he kisses her some more.

**(TBC)**

**After my particularly hectic week, I thought i wouldn't be able to update this. But the inspiration hit and though I didn't get much love, I decided that i like where this story is going too much to let this go. Lol. I have stopped schooling and is currently training for a call center job so the next chapters might be shorter and stuff. Depends on my whim and the schedule considering that I'm really stressed with the bureaucracy right now. But I'd try to get the next as soon as possible. That would be however, after I update my SasuHina-THG crossover and me to get over them SasuNaru feels. Gawd. **

**The last parts is only there to hint at what really happened that night. It's meant for you to do the rest with guesswork and imagination so if it felt incomplete, please tell me. I would have written a lemon but i don't want to get overboard again like i did in The Sweet Life and strike you the hormones are getting the better of me again. But at least, I finally had them pursue the self-destructive relationship I really want to write. I'm evil like that.**

**Please review and make me happy. **


	8. Anxiety: Reality

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08

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Hinata and Naruto would have been married six years this September, their small apartment in Hagoromo Street testament to what they have endured over the years as a young couple joined by legal matrimony. They had been together for eight, their wayward romance first starting when they were halfway past highschool and still those wishful, dreamy sweet-flick-loving teenagers who thought that butterflies in the stomach is a sign of growing old in love.

Before a Magistrate they swore their vows one morning in autumn, their solemn promise of "I do." shutting up the naysayers who thought Naruto was too much of a knucklehead to make claim of his spawn, much less do his obligations with utmost chivalry. At the time, they were really the happiest. Hinata wouldn't dare deny that. It was what her heart told her after all. That they share the same destiny. That whatever happens, they were one. But there is always something else and Hinata wonders exactly when things went downhill.

They met at a swim meet, when he was twelve and she was ten, but still sharing the same grade level at a school that only allowed either the rich or the exceptionally talented. At the time, Naruto was the star of the swim team, his time in the seas giving him enough skill to make a name for himself that he being an impoverished orphan otherwise would not have. He aced in the sprints and excelled in the long distance races while she, Hyuuga Hinata was merely just the last-minute substitute for a sport which formal mechanics she neither has any experience or even a single idea about.

So nobody was the least bit surprised to see her hugely unprepared for the big day. To say she was nervous was an understatement. But Naruto, who noticed the darkest of moods from even the most composed of personality, just brushed that off with his inherent air of obnoxious self confidence and told her with the pat at the back that the key to the 200-meter dash is to preserve your energy until you are at the last leg and few nanoseconds "so that you can kick their asses in the moment that matters, believe it!"

She finished last. No surprises there. For one thing, Hinata was never one to be the perfect cut for any physical exertion. She knew how to swim. She was reputably the best in her class. But that was about that. Backgroud-wise, she already was a goner even before the competition started. Not to mention how cringeworthy it was already that Hinata took off like a flash the moment it whistled that she was already choking on her breath by the time she reached (which was considered a miracle actually) the last lap.

The reality was that she didn't listen. Naruto never asked her why but the truth was that she had been too lost in his deep blue eyes and the drone of his pleasantly enthusiastic voice that all other things became immaterial. Gone was her apprehension of the race. Instead, it was replaced by her apparent disinterest of swimming strategies as she started to marvel at the feel of his warm hands when he pulled her up from the water. And that beautiful smile that rivaled even the glinting sun that glared down. Naruto was her first love. And it never died.

Both of them were avid movie fans. For a stereotypical macho man, he likes sweets. For a sheltered heiress, she could actually tolerate ramen. They both loved camping, beach surfing and picnic. She enjoyed dancing, something he found both alienating and fascinating at first—he many a time pointed out that he couldn't decide. He had an outspoken passion with extreme sports, something with her weak health; Hinata could not really participate in but with her generous salary, had been able to pay at least. Naruto always knew what to do whenever she got into one of her attacks. Hinata was always there when he was feeling inadequate about something.

Simply put, they fit. They fit perfectly. The heavens have not blessed with a child yet but surely their passion for each other is enough to set things into order, right? Naruto certainly thought so. He kept smiling and made bragging rights to everyone that Hinata and he were just doing great. He was so convincing that even Hiashi whose opinion of him was questionable, had been welcome to the idea of finally reintroducing him to the family. And so it came as a surprise for everyone when out of the blue, Hinata asked for a divorce.

And that, with just a halfway decent lawyer she actually managed to get it.

…

The Hinata who wakes him up is not the sexy woman he had been pleasuring the other night. This one already has breakfast ready when she impersonally beckons him to rise from her bed. This one looks composed, definitely not the woman who told him of her crappy life as they let the shower drench them in cascading flows. This one is dressed fully, her attire all business just as when she first came in the building and inquired for a substantial deal. Not the one who writhed beneath him and he insisted on with a few hard thrusts to cry his name out loud. Sasuke watches her back as she closes the door with a thud, giving him time to get dressed.

He frowns.

Last night, Hinata had been wearing that casual Eric Clapton shirt that Shiho decided to lend her, yet to be transforming into the businesswoman in black skirt that he saw just now. In just a few drinks, the green Adidas shirt had not stayed on for long. Sasuke had suggested a shower and tossed the garment away, revealing Hinata's perfect body amidst the ethereal glow of his lights. She is fit, for a twenty four-year old woman who had supposedly gone under several miscarriages anyway. Her wonderful breasts firm and her belly tight with just a hint of fat he decided to ignore. She is pale, in a sickly way that he understood. Hinata is of classical beauty, the way Mikoto was. But not quite the same. Her opalescent eyes grew even more alluring as she stared at him wide-eyed after he had turned on the lights for a moment and as he kissed her cheeks to calm her down, he saw a hint of freckles rising up on her cute, button nose.

They made love with the heat and excitement of first love, a department that he could tell from Hinata's wistful manner of speaking about her past, is one that she has experience with. He had been so lost in her arms, their kisses trailing each other's fiery skin that he found that their passion hardly waned for hours and hours that they went into selfless abandon as they laid in deference with the other. He found himself wanting to please her, found himself wanting to slow things down. That way, Hinata didn't have to be pressured to cry out a name that was not his. That way, she would know that it was him. That way, he would know it was not entirely the alcohol that made her vulnerable like this.

Yes, Uchiha Sasuke is very much willing to train her as his own. Love comes but he never is a type to let it go.

Later, as they lay entwined in each other's arms in the afterglow of the moment, the sheets on her bed a ball on their feet, Sasuke realized that he has marginally lost his sense of time, comforted as he was by the strong embrace that which she held him. His eyes panned towards the Sharingan light and he could not help but be grateful that it was there, recording everything that he wanted to watch again and document for future reference later on.

She would love it.

With the sunlight glorifying her essence, Hinata looks marvelously stunning even if the extent of her backdrop is just nodding for him to share the table with her. Sasuke has already gotten himself dressed, the Levis and high-collared shirt back in its neat place. Before him is an appetizing array of food that he is surprised she managed to prepare even under the threat of a hangover and yes, the seizure. For a moment, he kicks himself for actually being inconsiderate and suggesting her to drink when she just clearly came out of the hospital. Who knows what that would cause? He'd tell Suigetsu to fix that emergency button later. That way, he wouldn't have to activate the fire alarm every time something is amiss.

But because Hinata seems alright and definitely still alive and kicking, Sasuke lowers himself down the seat and smiles. She did describe it once to him as something like"dynamite".

She smiles back politely.

Fifteen minutes of awkward dining. He takes another piece of delicious-looking onigiri, munches, swallows a mouthful and gets tired of her tacit insistence for silence as he tells her on point.

"It's okay for me if you have us think that this is just a one-time thing." He tells her, eyes waiting for any aberration on her calm and collected countenance. "I don't mind that as long as we still talk and you are not scared of running into me everytime we take the elevator or anything. Because after what happened, we definitely are more than acquaintances. You know of my secrets. I know about you. So we just have to swear that there should never be blackmails between us and all is well."

Hinata cocks a brow in surprise, obviously amazed by his lighthearted take on things. Which is untrue. Sasuke is never light-hearted. Not on anyone else anyway. He just knows how to phrase his dark humor appropriately in every way that should fit the situation. "I really… " she hesitates for a moment, white eyes dilated. "I really let myself go last night, didn't i?"

Hinata sounds so mortified of this that Sasuke cannot help but chuckle in her expense. He makes sure it is not so mocking. "Hn. You did. I heard a lot of things about Hyuuga Hinata last night. It is a great experience, considering that I did let you in in one of my own military-caliber secrets. Remember it? That I own both the building and the hospital?"

Hinata nods, robotically. "I still can't believe it actually."

Sasuke shrugs, his stance without any humility that anyone would have expected from a charmer. He smiles. The dynamite one. "You speak like you yourself aren't heir to a hundred millions as well. As far as I can tell from the magazines, the Hyuugas already own half of Japan, right?"

"I'm aware we used to be that great." She says back glumly, sighing. "And that I used to be their heiress."

He scoffs, picking on her subtle point. "Such humility."

"Which is still incomparable with your own." She counters with a languid shrug that gave away her exhaustion for a moment. Her fingers twitch from her spoon and Sasuke sees that she is trying to suppress a reflexive motion that might blatantly express her discomfort. "Don't you think you are giving me too much credit?"

"You deserve it."

"I don't think I do."

"I trust you."

"That's because…" She pauses, as though searching for the right word. Her forehead creases in deep thought. "That's because you think you are attracted to me."

"An understatement." He quips, wondering where this is going.

"Fine." She surrenders, biting her lip as she took a deep breath. She looks stressed. "That's because you see your mother in me? And I don't think you should? It is instinct that as humans, we trust our parents or what else we think is their embodiment. It's laughable, really but they're common enough."

"You think it was creepy then? Laughable?"

He is answered by a heavy, suffocating silence. Hinata's condescending stare is all that he needs to learn that she indeed is creeped out. Warily, she regards him and sighs once more.

"And you remember all of that." He finds himself torn into laughing hysterically or having a panic attack. They haven't even started! And yet he has already managed to scare her! "You must be quite an amazing drunk."

"I don't even think I look like your mother." She says gently, eyes not leaving his. She stirs on her coffee, the sound of the steel spoon hitting glass momentarily filling the interval in between his wide-eyed anticipation and her indecision to just plow on. It seems that she has devoted some thinking time about telling him this, if the business-like approach is of any indication. "Nobody told me so. Until you did."

Sasuke thinks he should have none of that.

"I know best what to look for. I see you—"

"And I think that is unhealthy, Sasuke-kun." She interjects with insistence, brows creased and her white eyes still unrelenting in her piercing stare. There is something in those eyes, Sasuke muses apprehensively as he finds himself drawn to them. It sees through him. And suddenly, Sasuke knows he is the one who should be wary.

"Tell me something, Sasuke-kun." Hinata begins, once she knows for sure that she still has his full attention. He tries to compose himself. "I think you have not been completely honest with me. I don't think you overheard that bit about Oedipus Complex in any elevator. At least, I don't think it's just coincidence or just you being there lucky enough to hear something that hugely applies in the issues in your life. I don't think Yamanaka-san is that bad of a psychiatrist to talk about such a sensitive subject in a public place. It seems unlikely. And life is never an amazing string of coincidences anyway. You of all people…"

She takes a deep breath and somehow, Sasuke perceives how Hinata could be a big threat even with those radiating innocence and apparent vulnerability.

She is too smart for her own good.

Sasuke has eyes everywhere. But Hinata has eyes which can see through everything.

If he is not so careful…

"You are on therapy, aren't you Sasuke-kun?" she asks softly, careful of her tone. It seems like she has made sure that it would not be accusing. "You are consulting Yamanaka-san, aren't you, Sasuke-kun?"

Her manner of speaking reminds him of Mikoto's, when she asked gently as to why he is doing what he is doing. Why he watched them. Why he taped them. That Sasuke-kun, I think you need help, even though she did watch it with him for some time.

Didn't that make her as fucked up as he was—as they all implied?

"I want to help you Sasuke-kun." She resumes, tone lowered as though she is afraid of the truth that her words hold. Her fingers twitch again. Hinata's eyes are shut now. She is releasing more sighs more than is normal but she looks as determined as ever to make her point across. Sasuke thought that this morning would merely tackle the topic of Hinata not wanting a relationship. For the life of him, he wouldn't have guessed that he had inadvertently awakened a dormant curiosity and that Hinata would start questioning his inability to successfully hold a commitment.

She really is just like his mother.

Against his wishes, he smiles.

"I don't like hearing you say things like that. I don't like you expecting things from me. Sasuke-kun, don't get it wrong. i… I like you. And I think I did enjoy last night. Your company… it's comforting. I just have to make something clear, Sasuke-kun. It's that I don't really want to be in a relationship. For now I mean. And I'm not your mother."

"Don't talk to me like a child." He murmurs, his contented face threatening to break into a deep scowl. He tries to stifle it. "Because didn't you think it was normal as well? Didn't you say you have it? I just miss my mother Hinata. Nothing wrong with that, right? And so what if I went to therapy? Does that mean I'm a bad person? It's not like I deal drugs or something bad like that."

"I just think it's creepy." She admits, not bothering to deny that this is not about any misgiving from her part. The confession renders Sasuke into attention, his mouth posed into an argument that he knew would no longer surface after this. "Please don't expect too much. Just don't. Sasuke-kun."

"I don't." Sasuke insists, trying to feign good humor as he rolls his eyes. "I just have to admit that I enjoy being with you too damn much though."

As though the cloud of their disagreement lifts, Hinata is suddenly chuckling. Somehow, she couldn't help it. "You really are needy, aren't you?" Her eyes twinkle. Sasuke purses his lips. "And here you say I shouldn't talk to you like a child."

"That's because I am not." He points to himself proudly, smirking. "I own a corporation. I'm one hell of a lover. I'm Uchiha Sasuke. Please don't tell me you are not the woman who cried my name out last night? Because you should know."

Hinata's face turns red.

"I don't mind if we don't get into a relationship so quickly." He says, before they get off-topic. "I'm willing to wait."

"Thank you." She replies sincerely, nodding. "But promise me you continue therapy?"

He wonders where the hell she got the idea that he stopped coming to it.

"Sure." He makes sure he sounds commitant.

With a shrug, she smiles again. Wider this time. She looks infinitely beautiful when she is happier because he just did the right thing. "Just so you know…" she says, now comfortable with eating the rest of her morsel in front of him . "I'm always here to help. We're more than acquaintances now right? Tell me what bothers you, Sasuke-kun. I told you what bothers me so that I can return the favor. We're friends now, right?"

Of course, he wants to be more than that. "And I'm always here for a good fuck." He looks her over, smirking as he undressed her once again with his eyes. "Or two."

Hinata laughs. It was how Mikoto did before Fugaku went on the left side.

Sasuke realizes, as he rakes his hands through Hinata's soft tresses with his lips pecking on her white neck, that he has to tread through this carefully…

No strings attached, my butt. Only she thinks that. She would want him. In the end, she would want him. They are already irrevocably bound the moment she bought 13-B. He owns the building. He owns her. Because if he fails…

He does not want to snap into his old violence and kill his mother all over again…

…

.

Tsunade's comments about the manuscript she has emailed two days ago were not at all those she expected and altogether wanted to hear. Humility aside, she thought what she wrote was good. Exceptional even, in a proud way that she was already looking forward onto winning an award ahead of actually publishing it. But seated before the blonde-haired, ageless agent as they shared the afternoon tea served by one of the most expensive diners in Konoha, Hinata couldn't help but have her high hopes doused by one of the woman's critical moods that she knew from experience, could either make or break a career. As a child, her low self-esteem had prevented her from ever nurturing an ego. She was so used to demeaning and being not enough that she could let any other discouragement pass into the other ear and move on with just a bit of a broken heart. Tsunade never praised her as brilliant. But neither did she ever say that she was this… bad.

They had agreed to meet when she called the agent after dismissing Sasuke, knowing that three days were more than enough for Tsunade to piece out exactly what she liked and didn't in the manuscript that Hinata wants to be proofread. On the way down, she met with Kiba who was just getting ready himself for his shift in the streets. Akamaru was beside him, wagging his tail as Hinata got close. The walk to the entrance was awkward at best but at least, Kiba and Hinata did manage to sort of reconcile with just a word of apology from both sides.

But it does not take a genius to know that both parties are best to be left alone for now.

"Realism, I think is what you lacked in here Hinata." Tsunade continues, exquisitely manicured fingers thumbing over the typewritten, one-hundred-thousand-worded manuscript that Hinata couldn't just believe that the agent found so bad she thought that those children books that were not even much to begin with, are better. Kindling for the fire is a much better derogative.

"The premise is brilliant I think. You certainly have answers to most of my questions. No plotholes as much as I can see and a very interesting progression. But the thing is, things went too unimaginably morbid in the climax that I couldn't help but be reminded of Stephen King. And considering that the guy is old news now, I don't think even with your name, yours would sell much or win the critics over who you said hated you in the last book which I already think was good enough, in case you forgot."

So in reality, Tsunade is just thinking in a commercial standpoint. Reasonable. But Hinata does not consider that a sufficient factor for Tsunade to insist that she should not be writing what she feels she should. "Do you have anything against Stephen King, Tsunade-san?" The jab comes forth before she can so much as stop it. Prejudice is a great insult to any proofreader. And the accusation does not go unheard. "I mean, i just want to know why you think they are very similar. Is it like his worst? His best? The Shining? Carrie? It? I've read most of his books and I don't see any parallelism that might liken mine to his. Mine is more of a psychological thriller after all."

"I can see that." The agent states, steepling her long fingers in a way that made her more critically intelligent than ever. Intimidating. "You are adapting an age-old philosophy into an absorbing tale. Where our worst enemy are ourselves. And that women can be pretty badass and something gross in love like Jack the Ripper too. You do realize that the feminists would castrate you for what you are implying, right? We are supposed to be the better race after all."

"I just made a woman the culprit." Hinata notes, not understanding where Tsunade is leading her. Because if it is only about critical controversy, then nothing should be wrong with that. From what she can reap, Tsunade thought that the manuscript is already passable literary-wise. It is readable. And she did well. So what if she made a rather freaky female character? Today is far from the era where romantiscized crimes are perpetrated with a woman as merely a malicious conspirator and someone who is never strong enough to have blood in their hands. She wields nothing like the ingenuity of Conan Doyle and she certainly is not attempting to write about a fantastical Sherlock Holmes. So what's the issue? "I want to know what you think is wrong with that."

"You are writing her in a way that she seems so invincible." Tsunade replies with conviction, forcing Hinata to jolt up in alarm. "And though she is your protagonist, that does not cut me the right way. She has flaws, true. But in how you tell your story, you made her sound so right in her wrongdoings that it irks me. Where is your tongue-in-cheek approach in writing children scif-fi that everyone loves so much?"

"This is reality." she reasons, aware that the conversation is now getting out of hand. Fast. "And that's what I want to write."

"So the truth is finally out. You have problems with the world, Hinata? Your stalker dies in real life. Your husband breaks up with you. And you hate your job. From the way I see this, you are venting in a way you know how. You are writing a character that reflects you, killing all those you want dead because in real life, you are too conscientious to hold the dagger." Tsunade laughs. It sounds like a box of crickets gone awry. "And before you snap, what am I now? Your shrink? Well, let me tell you something Hinata. This thing you think is reality is not real at all. It's crazy. And you know what? This does not sound like you at all."

Hinata falls silent. Because she cannot do anything better.

"You say you want to be yourself but this is not the best way, Hinata. This is not a diary. This is a fantasy. And I suggest you have a dose of what reality is like before you come to me with a new book. Watch people. Think of how they live. Write about them. You have had enough of your own life to be devoting time to write about yourself. You don't want to be writing about a Mary Sue, about how you want to deal with your life because that's now what reality is and I don't want to risk publishing something that I can easily foresee that you would regret someday once things in your personal life are okay. Nobody wants to read a half-assed diary. Hell, I even hate Anne Frank's and it was supposed to be the best."

Hinata nods meekly. Dazed. It is a lost cause. Tsunade won't be endorsing Eye of the Moon to any publishing house anytime soon.

"I just want to help you."

The words are eerily familiar.

"I'm your friend, Hinata."

Don't speak to me as though I am a child.

"I'm just doing you a favor, Hinata."

That is because I am not. A child. I am a woman. A grown one.

And Hinata realizes with a start, that this is probably what Sasuke felt after she just played shrink on him.

"This." Tsunade gestures on the thick pages of manuscript. "Now this is really creepy. Rethink some things and come back to me once you find what earns real money in our industry. That's what reality is anyway."

She proves to be just as fucked up as he is.

…

Sasuke watches Kiba.

He puts him on 2, keeping an eye and ear on how he ranted about how he is stupid In general, most of which involving the blunder in dealing with Hinata. About how he only cares for her. About how he loves her but understands perfectly that she wants none of that now. Akamaru dutifully keeps his silence as the scumbag he has for a master cowardly retaliates in being friendzoned by tattling into inanimate objects and venting to poor, uncomprehending animals. Kiba dumps some files in the living room, piling them up and with meticulous care Sasuke would never have attributed to the Inuzuka, sorts through them. He picks one. Sasuke zooms. It is about Hidan. The medical examiner's findings to be exact.

"You know, Akamaru…" Kiba murmurs in so soft a whisper that Sasuke has to strain his voice equipment to pick it up on the resonance. The canine trainer leafs through the pages, unconsciously baring his teeth in disgust. "I just can't get over the fact that Hinata was almost assaulted in this building. He was en route to kill her, you know. He was ready. And Hinata didn't even have any idea."

For hours, he watches Kiba try to pore his way into paperwork, mumbling notes here and there as he set himself to at least find a clue to reassure himself that it is really Hidan who died. Akamaru has already curled up into a ball and has fallen asleep amidst his master's frustrated drone. Kiba makes a few calls—where he tells the person on the other line that he has to follow up something- and then leaves in a hurry again.

Inoichi speaks with Tenten, makes her sit on The Couch. Talks about afterlife. Tells her that unknowing might not be worth the blood.

Ino going somewhere, blue eyes bloodshot.

Shikaku and Yoshino in another of their arguments.

Kakashi reading.

The masters show Hinata and him again—on her bed. He on top, both of them close to coming.

He fastforwards it to round two, avoiding the nonsensical stretch of conversations that was made in the intervals. Hinata is on top now, kissing, stroking and wrestling around. Hinata being beautiful and amazing. This woman makes him feel like he never did it with any other woman. First love, he thinks, feels wonderful.

He thinks about calling her but she did say she has some business to attend to. When he left, he found out that she called the Tsunade woman again. They met at one five-star restaurant, the one near Yakiniku's in downtown.

An hour later, he watches her open the door to her unit. Monitor One. She is the epitome of every disappointment in the world, her spirits down as she sinks sullenly down to the couch.

In the masters monitor, they are lying together as they did last night. Sixty-nining.

She needs a break.

No longer playing chicken, Sasuke calls her. "Hi."

"Hello?" The response comes. Even her broken voice is perfect.

He smiles, watching them. "Hey Hinata. It's Sasuke. Sorry to bother you but..." he says, the more sophisticated recording devices already activated now. "I just want to see whether you are real…" 

.

Against her better judgment, she allows him in her life once more.

Under the pelting flow of the hot shower, they kiss again.

And it is all the reassurance that Sasuke needs.

…

With Cokes and Oreos and burgers and Ice cream, they play 20 questions. 300 plays on cable TV, ab flashes everywhere."You lived here since you are nineteen. You own the building. You should help me catch up, don't you think?" She grins. "Are you a fan of gossip Sasuke-kun? As you know, writers mostly … what about bringing me to speed? "

He laughs. He notices that he does that a lot these days. It feels good, like riding a bicycle for the first time in years. "Hn. I'll try."

Hinata has already told him about today's fiasco with her agent. Well, he cannot say he does not agree because she actually expects that he would back Tsunade on her surmise, as intelligent as he proved to be.

"Maybe you should write something else." He had said about the matter, kissing her full on the lips. "I'll help you."

She kissed back, open-mouthed. "She thinks I should try getting inspiration from other people." She says, after moaning throaty groan. He elicits so many feelings that she just cannot help herself. "But no, I'd hate to write a biography."

"You certainly can do more."

"What do you think?"

"How about I tell you some anecdotes?" He suggested, nuzzling on her neck and biting it. "I lived here long enough to have a repertoire. Do you know that Ino once was a gymnast?"

"No. Did she tell you?"

"No. But she wears enough short shorts for me to deduce that."

"What else?"

And that was when it started.

"Ino again?" They are already on the fourteenth. So far, she already knows of people she has not met face to face by their given names.

"Is rumored to be having an affair with an older, married man. But before you ask, she is not quite the presidential callgirl. I think she is more decent than the apartment gossip made her out to be. But with the number of men drooling after her, it's no surprise that every single woman in the building hates her. You know Karin? You want gossip. Talk to her. That woman is a walking tabloid. "

"How come you hired her?" It is a question that just won't go away. "You seem to be irked with her as well. How come you hired her and kept her no less?"

Sasuke sulks, coughing in undisguised disgust. "As irritating as she is, the woman is a very good judge of character. And that is very useful. She can sense malignance in a person like no other and I think that is my precaution in my endeavour to not let any suspicious person to ever come upstairs and compromised my tenants' safety. So far, it is doing good. Karin managed to keep away a disgruntled man once from harming his ex-wife. She's eternally grateful. So I have to take care of her."

Seeing the red-haired receptionist in a brand new light, Hinata speaks in reflection. "She tried to keep Sakura away last time as well. You remember her? My lawyer? Pink hair? Green eyes?

"How can I not? Maybe she sensed that she brings some bad, unwanted news."

"How come you know of that?" Hinata asks, suspicion laced in her incredulous inquiry. Sasuke shrugs it off and tells her that he just has the feeling. "You really are perceptive, you know what. It's almost as if you can see everything." She says, still with raised eyebrows. She chuckles, knowing well that if Hanabi knew of this—that Sasuke is rich, the sex is great and he is so damn smart, then she would shriek over the phone "for heaven's sake, grab him!". "So what's the deal with the lights?" she asks this time.

"Those?" he points inquiringly at the Art Deco disk overhead.

She nods. "I call them the Sharingan."

He smiles approvingly. "Pretty accurate. It is an old design I made when I was a kid. I've always been interested with furnitures and as a child in a science fair, I have submitted a variety of prototypes. My brother was an interior designer, you see."

"Was?"

"He died. Two years ago. Got mugged in his own condo unit. Crappy security."

"Oh. I'm so sorry." Her condolence is sincere at least. Hinata squirms slightly against him, shifting in order to fully face him. "Who takes care of his kid?"

"What kid?" He looks confused for a moment. And then remembers the lie he told about some little critter who forced him to read her books. He pinches her nose, making the woman against him huff in indignance. "Oh yes. He lives with his mother."

He probably would. If he even exists.

"Poor guy."

"I know. It sucks."

"The Mangekyous?" She says, changing the subject.

"The Mangekyous? Ah 21-B" He repeats contemplatively, as if not knowing what to say. Hinata stares at him in askance, eyes questioning. Sasuke smiles sheepishly. "Sorry. I just tend to forget about them. They were just never there. The man's a freelance travel agent. For all I know, he probably is from the CIA but I never saw him in person. The woman is always away too. Probably somewhere sucking some other man's dick. Other than that, I forgot what she does."

Hinata visibly winces. He takes a mental note to be careful of how he handles his language in future occasions. And what white lies to tell. This girl is sharper than he imagined. "Those people caused the other night's stove fire?"

He laughs. Uneasy. "Hn. Surprising, right? But they pay well so I have no qualms."

They snuggle closer. Hinata feeds him a strip of cheese and confides. "Ino looks rather depressed to me these days, by the way. We met each other while riding the elevator earlier but her greeting is not as lively as they used to. Is that only because I haven't known her well yet? She really has been sweet to me and I'm kind of worried about her."

"I told you she's been having an affair." He answers, ruffling her stubborn, curious head. "Probably got some things cut off. She should have known better than fool around with a married man anyway."

"How come you are so sure about that?"

"I saw them in the laundry room. They were making out. Quite a hot sight really. Made me all hard to be honest," he answers with an exultant chuckle as Hinata admonishes him of being a Peeping Tom with light slap on the elbow. "So I know it is more than just a rumor. I wonder whether Shikaku feels a few years younger because of the thrill and whether ino herself has some Daddy complex which is kind of questionable because Inoichi is still around. Yoshino certainly is not pleased."

"The BDSM couple upstairs?"

"Shikamaru and Temari? They are pretty popular. Said to be the building's top kink." He looks at her levelly, smiling with mischief. "I kind of want that title for myself. Ever thought of overtaking them?"

Another playful slap. In which Hinata realizes that Sasuke might just be creeping up on her already, with his weird sense of humor that would kick him out of any comedy bar. She pulls him down for a kiss. He responds with equal fervor. And for the first time in years, she feels the telltale warm sensation at the intimacy.

Parting, she breathes out. "You have quite a collection of crazies." She holds his head, running her dainty hands into his soft, dark tresses. He puts his lips on her neck, sucking as his leg gives hers some stimulating footsie. "Aren't you thinking expanding it into a highschool?" She chuckles at her own joke.

"I do know how to choose them." He only says and with dark eyes that promises something, he lowers his head. "I like the variety. And you have no idea how interesting watching them interact is."

He kisses her.

The Sharingan Light tapes.

(TBC)

**Hm. Two chapters and we are on to the Obsessive Phase (I hope). To my surprise, the recent chapters have really come out from my system rather easily. Which I think is caused by the daily adrenaline in my workplace (I'm broke so I have to quit my studies and try my hand in the offices) and the fact that working on KMS is actually the best way to relieve my writer's block (which unfortunately does not apply in TSL).**

**I love reading your reviews and they inspire me to write more. Although I have not written a lemon as you all wanted, I decided to just focus on the progression more than anything. Hinata plays detective and deduces some things in the next chapter. Sasuke is in for some entrapment. Though I pretty much have the story mapped out, I am still torn whether I want to follow some moral values or whether I'd go for the poignancy. Oh well. **

**I think I am adapting a new writing style. Have you noticed those history-tidbits at the beginning? I think I've done that in the last chapter too. OMG. And oh, credits to MyLady for the last part. I got it from her review some chapters ago. Lol. For some reason, I find that funny. I still am not writing about ANBU squids, right? **

**Anyone else Filipino here btw? I wonder if I am the only one in my country who ships SasuHina (Let's meet up!)**

**Please review. :D**


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